C hopped strawberries, frozen blueberries, spinach and ice: Blend them all together and what do you get? Lots of noise, laughter and a delicious smoothie made by adults with ‘disAbilities.’

“We’ve been waiting 20 years for this kind of course,” said Barbara Coleman, executive director of the Life Enrichment Center (LEC) in Milledgeville. “We had seven college interns and seven candidates, a willing teacher and everything just came together.”

For the first time, individuals from LEC are taking a “Food Safety 101” course through Georgia College’s Continuing and Professional Education program. They pair up with undergraduates who give one-on-one support during lessons on basic kitchen skills like hand washing, appliance safety, safe food preparation, cleaning and sanitization.

In May, LEC adults will ‘graduate’ with certificates of competition. These will help them get jobs preparing and serving food at the university dining hall and other food establishments in town.

Their new skills will also be used to open a café at LEC next month, where adults with disabilities will offer coffee, smoothies and healthy snacks to the community.

Senior political science major Zayne Kemler of Griffin is familiar with special needs. His brother has intellectual disabilities. This made Kemler want to get involved and help LEC adults gain real-world experience.

The course also helps Kemler improve interpersonal skills, like working through communication barriers. This will be handy, as he pursues a master’s in public administration and finds work in the nonprofit industry.

In class, Kemler is paired with a talkative and lively young man with Down Syndrome.

“It’s always a challenge to get him to sit down, but he wants to learn and is really engaged. It’s a joy to work with him and give him support,” Kemler said.

“It’s definitely very rewarding,” he added. “Being able to see them smile brings me a lot of joy. Even days when I’m tired and falling behind—being at the center, there are days I spend my whole day laughing with a smile on my face.”

About 60 students a semester work with LEC. Georgia College has partnered with the center for 30 years, running programs for them in music therapy, special education and exercise science. LEC doesn’t have the staff to do these things alone, Coleman said. They depend on the university to expose clients to real-life opportunities.

Students plan activities, do internships at the center, create art and music with LEC adults and teach exercise skills. Without Georgia College, Coleman said LEC would be like other organizations that provide day programs with coloring, TV and bingo.

“This partnership has continued to grow and build,” Coleman said. “It’s reciprocal. We take time to educate the students and, in return, the students bring us ideas. They bring us the opportunities, and they make memories that will last a lifetime.”

“To be honest,” she said, “the university helped me to change the mindset of this community. Working with students has been the catalyst that has changed that mindset, brought in ideas and given us the ability to do more things.”

Connie Prezioso was hired as an independent contractor to be Continuing Education's Food Safety 101 instructor. She’s been in the restaurant field 15 years, starting at Sodexo. She now manages a local restaurant and teaches ServSafe courses to restaurant workers. The Georgia College course is a modified version of ServSafe standards.

When Angela Criscoe, interim executive director of the School of Continuing and Professional Studies, approached her to lead this course—Prezioso jumped at the chance. She helps LEC adults recall what they’ve learned by providing plenty of repetition.

It’s been a rewarding experience.

“They’re doing an absolutely amazing job. They surprise me every day by how much they’ve learned,” Prezioso said. “They seem to enjoy it. They want to be in college. They want to take college classes. They want to learn more, and that’s not something you see every day.”

“Some people act like learning’s a privilege. They just think they’re owed it,” she said. “For these people, it’s a real treat for them to be here, and they try so hard because of that. It just gives you that warm fuzzy feeling inside.”

College students make Prezioso’s job easier. They let her know what their LEC partner needs in order to learn and retain information. Some can read; others can’t. Some are auditory learners, others visual. Students help LEC adults with notetaking and give hints to spark memory.

Senior public health major Madison Harris of Milledgeville creates PowerPoints for the class. She breaks regular ServSafe lessons into manageable chunks. Learning to adapt lessons for adults with disabilities has been a good learning experience, Harris said.

Ashley Burkhalter, a senior public health major from Jesup, joined to help LEC individuals meet their goals and interact in a college setting. She plans to go into medical sales after graduation and, while this experience isn’t directly related to that field, Burkhalter said it’s been a good learning opportunity.