Students with disabilities can get PRIDE through new scholarship
Aug. 30—FAIRMONT — The Pierpont Foundation is making it easier for students with intellectual disabilities to take part in post-secondary educational opportunities.
Darin and Jennifer Walker seeded $5,000 into a new scholarship for students at the PRIDE Academy in a ceremony Tuesday at the college's Advanced technology Center. The academy provides students with intellectual disabilities the chance to learn basic life and job skills that will help them succeed outside of secondary school.
"For years, up until recently, special needs people were hidden from society," Darin Walker said. "They were put into asylums or kept at home but hidden, and we're finding out they have so much to offer if they're given the chance. The more they are exposed to the community, the more potential there is."
Darin Walker is director of the PRIDE academy, which he took over last year. He saw an opportunity to start the academy after spotting an unused grant at Pierpont. His daughter, Hannah, is a student with an intellectual disability. As a retired FBI analyst who also had experience in academia, he saw the chance to fill a need.
"Well, when she graduated from high school in 2019, there were not a lot of opportunities for someone with disabilities," Jennifer Walker said. "COVID only made that worse. And so when we found out that there was a grant here at Pierpont and had received a grant to do a post secondary program, we were very excited and we jumped on board."
This year marks the academy's first anniversary. Jennifer Walker said that second year students will have the chance to go deeper into job training.
The seed money the Walkers planted into the foundation's scholarship program will help make the PRIDE Academy accessible to students who might not have the means to attend otherwise. The money from the initial grant that set up the program was for last year, in order to keep it going more funds will be needed. Jennifer Walker said her family's presentation of the check to the Pierpont Foundation will help ensure the PRIDE Academy's future.
Darin Walker said money is a big concern to a lot of families in West Virginia. He didn't want the thought of paying tuition to scare people from applying to the PRIDE Academy, especially because most of the students that the PRIDE Academy serves wouldn't be eligible for traditional grants and scholarships.
The scholarship, named after Hannah Walker, is one of several that the Pierpont Foundation hosts for the benefit of Pierpont students.
"When you come to college, you got enough things to worry about," Rusty Elliott, chair of the foundation, said. "Finances is one of them. If we can take that burden away from them, that's what our job is. We want them to concentrate on the classes. We want them to concentrate on their studies, so they can graduate and get a good job once they get out of here and if we can do that, that's our goal."
To accomplish that goal, Elliott said they rely on donations to keep going. He said that he's seen good students drop out due to a $500 bill they can't pay. The money the Foundation collects helps students who might not be able to make those payments stay in school and end up in a better spot after graduation. It's especially important for the group of people that the Hannah Walker Scholarship is designed to help, which Elliott sees having a large impact on them.
"They're going to be trained in something that they can go to feel proud about going to this job and earning money and maybe living on their own," Elliott said. "The difference between living on their own and having to live someplace else. That's what this scholarship for is, to help train those people to live out on their own."
Reach Esteban at efernandez@timeswv.com
