Brennan’s inspiration
By Amanda Duchsherer
Digital Communication Specialist
amanda.duchsherer@minotstateu.edu
MINOT, N.D. – Transitioning to online learning due to COVID-19 during the Spring 2020 semester wasn’t necessarily easy for Amanda Brennan.
“It was challenging because I was at home. I have two brothers and my parents at home, so with all of us in one house, it was a lot,” she said.
Brennan’s youngest brother, Ian, disagreed.
“He’s heard me talk about all of my friends and all of my profs, so he was so excited to see all of the people’s faces because we’d do classes on Zoom and we all had our cameras on,” she said. “As soon as he heard a prof start talking, he’d come downstairs and kinda just pop his head in the frame.
“He’d look for all of my friends and the profs would always say hello to him, and he loved it.”
Brennan moved from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to Minot State University to pursue her graduate degree in speech-language pathology, in part because of Ian.
“He started getting services when he was quite little, early intervention,” she said. “And he has an amazing speech pathologist. He’s been seeing her for 16 years. And she used to let me sit in on her sessions and I just thought it looked so fun. Over the years, she got me involved in the sessions and she would explain what she was doing and why. She’s a huge inspiration, and just seeing Ian working so hard and the progress he has made, that’s what got me into it.”
Brennan’s admiration for speech-language pathologist Kimberly Matthews is so strong that she will be doing part of her externship with her in Spring 2021.
“We’re allowed to split our externships to diversify the hours, as well as gain experience in different settings,” she said. “The first eight weeks, I’m doing in Ottawa — Ian’s SLP graciously took me — and then I’m going to Calgary, Alberta for eight weeks for a different experience.”
Although she looks forward to the different experiences in her externships, her future career aspirations include working with kids with disabilities, again because of her youngest brother.
Ian belongs to the boy’s club, a program hosted through the Down Syndrome Association National Capital Region, that meets every other Friday.
“It’s all teenage boys with Down Syndrome, and they alternate sports and just get to hang out together,” Brennan said. “There’s Down Syndrome picnics every year; we used to go almost every year, especially when Ian was little, we used to go to all kinds of activities.”
COVID-19 changes have given Brennan the opportunity to get involved in an activity hosted during Down Syndrome Awareness Month that she usually has to miss — the annual GO21 National Capital Region Walk.
“Every year they do this walk, but this year they turned it into a virtual event, and they made it span a couple weeks,” she said. “They were just encouraging people to get out and get active in whatever way they can and just raise money. It is awesome because I’m actually able to participate this year. It has been really cool.”
And whenever Brennan is putting in her miles, she puts on a shirt made by her friend and classmate, Tara Verklan.
“It says, ‘My homie has an extra chromie’ on the back. I’m so grateful to the community here,” she said. “Everyone here is so friendly and so helpful and really just willing to do anything for you.”
That community feel is something Ian loves as well, and he wears his Minot State shirts and baseball cap with pride. Brennan and her brother talk every day, and the conversation usually turns to what is happening on campus.
“There is one prof in particular that he really took a liking to (Kayla Fisher, communication sciences and disorders assistant professor), and so he always asks how she’s doing,” she said. “He’s decided he’d like to come to Minot State and enroll in whatever she teaches.
“Everyone is so awesome with Ian. When he would just pop his head in during all the online lectures, I’d get texts from my classmates saying, ‘Say hi to Ian!’ and my profs would always ask how he was doing. I’m so grateful to everyone that was so patient and just embraced him being there.”
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Minot State University is a public university dedicated to excellence in education, scholarship, and community engagement achieved through
rigorous academic experiences, active learning environments, commitment to public service, and a vibrant campus life.
| Published: 10/28/20 |
