Carie Roncin on Building an Inclusive Summer Program

As an inner-city school teacher in Hamilton County, Tennessee, Carie Roncin recognized the need for DEI programs to fully serve all of the students in their community. Although the county was working to implement these programs, Carie says, "they were not to the standards that I always wanted them to be."

Then she found an opportunity at Chattanooga Christian School (CCS) where the leadership was beginning to prioritize DEI. Seeing an opportunity to pursue her passion in a supportive environment, she took a job as a math interventionist. They next year, she became the Director of both Extended Care and Summer Camp--the position she's held for eight years--and began to make a fully-developed DEI program a reality. "It was a great job and a great foundation that was being laid," Carie says, "so we were able to develop what we have."

Today, Carie and her team serve 40 students in their summer camp with challenges that include ADHD, nonverbal autism, seizure disorders, and physical disabilities. How they were able to adapt their program to include these students is the basis for the session she's presenting at this year's SPARC National Conference--"Key Components to Have an Inclusive Summer Program."

"The first thing you have to do is change the mindset of your culture."

When asked how to begin designing an inclusive summer program, Carie says that "the first thing you have to do is change the mindset of your culture. You have to have other people on campus who will say, 'we're going to try this and we're going to put the resources into training and staffing that are needed." 

Chattanooga Christian had begun this shift in mindset as Carie started working there, and it was especially important to her boss, whose son has autism and Down Syndrome. As her son grew into adulthood, she recognized the lack of community services for neuroatypical adults. To fill this need, CCS started their Young Adult program specifically for people 16 years and older. Here, they are trained in job and life skills, and there is no age cap for eligible participants.

"If you're gonna start something like this, you gotta start small."

Carie stresses that you shouldn't take on too much at first as you adapt your program to be inclusive. "If you're going to start something like this, you gotta start small. You gotta start with four or five kids that you can filter in different age groups. You can't jump in head first with severe cases without having all the pieces in place."

With the help of The Learning Center, where inclusive students attend school, Carie's team began with 10 students by tailoring their existing program to their needs. Carie says the key is finding a balance between starting with what you have--adapting the program that is already in place to be inclusive--and finding the students who can benefit. With this strategy, the CCS Summer Camp grew to serve their current 40 students. 

In her session, Carie will focus on three main components of an inclusive program--programming, staffing, and pricing. Attendees will learn how to adapt their current program to include disabled students, how to train staff to meet the needs of these students, and how to identify state funding resources to support families financially who want their kids to attend. 

 "A lot of people go into this with the perception that it's all about helping kids with disabilities. But it's way more than that.

When asked what she particularly wanted to highlight, Carie knew immediately what she wanted to say. "A lot of people go into this with the perception that it's all about helping kids with disabilities. But it's way more than that. Our typically developing kids get as much--or more--out of our inclusion settings than our neuroatypical kids do." Carie says they learn how necessary inclusivity is while developing patience and understanding.

And given that CCS's mission is informed by Christianity, Carie says that inclusivity is an opportunity to share a Biblical perspective on why difference is to be embraced. "God made us all different. We all have different talents and different gifts. Yours just might be in a different package."

Whether you work in after school care or enrichment, summer camps, or any aspect of the auxiliary profession, SPARC is here with tools, resources, webinars, and community support to enhance your professional development. Join us today to take advantage of all we have to offer!