Eye-to-Eye promotes compassion for differences
By Mary Hazuka
The Gonzaga Online Bulletin
September 22, 2010

Approximately 5 percent of high school students with a learning disability go on to attend college.

The newest mentoring program at Gonzaga, Project Eye-to-Eye, is a nationwide nonprofit organization that pairs college students who have learning disabilities with elementary and middle school students who also have learning disabilities to build a community based on understanding and compassion for differences.

Project Eye-to-Eye empowers both college and middle school students with self-esteem and self-advocacy by building a bridge between those with learning disabilities.

"We are on a mission to influence and make a bigger [percentage] number in any way," said sophomore Emma Fahy, one of the students who implemented this new mentoring program at Gonzaga.

Working through the Center for Community Action and Service-Learning (CCASL) and Disabilities Resources Education and Access Management (DREAM), the mentoring program was started by Fahy and sophomore Katie Seeling, both of whom worked in similar programs throughout high school, while being very open about their own learning disabilities.

"There are a lot of negative attitudes that surround learning disabilities, and as a program, we want to show that it's OK to not be ashamed of it, and to show the kids their strengths," Seeling said.

According to Seeling, the program is geared toward having fun while learning about learning disabilities. Founded at Brown University in 1997, Project Eye-to-Eye now has 30 chapters and this year added six more, including the chapter at Gonzaga. In its first year, the program is accepting 10 mentors who have a learning disability for a yearlong commitment. Each mentor will be paired with a student from Garry Middle School and will meet every Friday afternoon to do mostly arts and crafts.

Seeling and Fahy call these arts and crafts "art of junk projects," such as "textbook explosion" and "tool bell projects."

The projects are fun for both the mentors and the students, but they also promote conversation on how to work with difficulties, and from mentor to student, how to strategize.

"We hope the mentors also learn, and that this forms a community within themselves while creating a safe space for these kids to grow," Fahy said.

According to projecteyetoeye.org, the mentors, along with their students, have managed to transcend the labels forced upon them and through the program have created a community around shared life experiences and learning styles.

As the mentoring program is in its infancy, 20 students at Gonzaga have undergone interviews and the positive responses have been encouraging.

Project Eye-to-Eye is also looking to start up a club as a result of the positive feedback from the community. The club will be looking to create an alliance among all students at Gonzaga. According to Fahy, they are looking to bring in speakers "who share what they have accomplished and share what we've been so passionate about."

"We want to create a community and we have a mission to change the stigma about learning disabilities in general. There is nothing like it, it is the first of its kind," Seeling said about the program.

Fahy said they want volunteers to become comfortable with their learning disabilities by building community sympathy and compassion, while kids with learning disabilities can build confidence to speak openly and freely about them. Seeling and Fahy said they want Project Eye-to-Eye to become a well-known name on campus and for it to become integrated into Gonzaga's culture.

"Gonzaga has great resources for students with learning disabilities, and it is only fitting for our school to extend that out into the community. It is Gonzaga at its best," Fahy said.

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