EMPOWER at the University of Arkansas offers a four-year, non-degree program for students with cognitive disabilities to experience the atmosphere of a public university. The program incorporates functional academics, independent living, employment, social/leisure skills, and wellness.
The EMPOWER program began in the fall of 2017 with three students – Grant Alley, Mary Borman and Nick Lange. In 2021, Lange was the first student to graduate from the program. He enjoyed living independently in a residence hall and held two jobs on campus.
“The EMPOWER program has actually changed my life,” he said. “It helped me find who I really am, and it gave me the confidence to have a leadership position in student organizations.”
On Friday February 11th, student media hosted a workshop in the UATV studio for EMPOWER students to learn the ropes of a newsroom and hear from University of Arkansas alum and current 40/29 Multimedia Journalist Lydia Fielder.
Yael Even, the director of strategic media and collaboration organized the event. She described the event as incredible and perhaps one of the many highlights of her college career.
“The students had the chance to learn about the control room, read off the prompter, and hear from U of A alum Lydia Fielder,” Even said. “It was so neat how their faces lit up when they read off the prompter.”
Lydia Fielder spoke about her time at the University of Arkansas and her four years of experience in the UATV studio as an anchor. Fielder won several student Emmys both anchoring and reporting. She was also named a Native American Journalism Fellow by the Native American Journalists Association in 2018.
“Here at UATV, we are doing things that are done in real life newsrooms,” Fielder said in her speech to EMPOWER students.
EMPOWER has developed many partnerships on campus to provide internship opportunities for participants. Junior Henry Jones will be the first EMPOWER intern with UATV this spring. UATV staff will work alongside Jones, teaching him essential skills to succeed in broadcasting.
“This partnership will allow students within the neurodiverse community representation and an opportunity to serve alongside their peers and gain valuable hands-on experience working in a state-of-the-art broadcast studio in student media here at the University of Arkansas,” Devin Boggs Riley, internship placement specialist said. “We will continue to move the needle closer to creating a more diversified and inclusive campus through this partnership.”
UATV looks forward to more EMPOWER students interning with them in the future and hopes to continue to hold similar events such as this one.
Photos by Shane White