Global Campus participants share their knowledge

Global Campuses Foundation (GCF) offers post-secondary educational opportunities to adults with developmental disabilities. Global Campus Springfield meets weekly at the Dean Educational Center.


Jason Benner stood in front of the classroom, gesturing excitedly as he spoke about one of his passions: comic books. He was wearing a T-shirt with one of his favorite comic book characters, the superhero Wolverine. Jason had brought a stack of comic books from his extensive collection to show his classmates. He has attended comic book conventions and visited stores that specialize in comic books. The class played a Bingo game Jason had developed. As he called out the names of comic book characters, students placed their tokens over drawings of Catwoman, Spider-Man, Thor and other characters. Jason also showed some photos of his trips to attend comic book conventions.

Jason is a participant in Global Campus Springfield, which meets weekly at the Dean Educational Center. Global Campuses Foundation (GCF) offers post-secondary educational opportunities to adults with developmental disabilities at its eight Vermont campuses and one in Lebanon, New Hampshire. GCF’s signature peer-teaching model empowers participants to take an active role in their education and the community. As students, instructors, and administrators, participants are directly involved with every aspect of their campus operation.

After Jason’s class, Dennis Lessard taught his class on championship wrestling. He showed a video on the history of wrestling, explaining that it is an ancient sport which began in the Middle East thousands of years ago. The next video depicted contemporary wrestling champion John Sena giving an inspiring speech the day after losing a match. Dennis then demonstrated the signature wrestling moves of some well-known professional wrestlers to much applause by his classmates and guests.

Marianne Keefe presented the second part of her class on whales, focusing on why whales are endangered - partially due to hunting by nations flouting an international ban on whaling. Marianne’s favorite species is the killer whale. She became interested in whales after watching a movie about a killer whale: “Free Willy”, which she has seen several times.

Other classes taught by participants at Global Campus Springfield this spring included: Karate, Discovering Decoupage, Cooking Thai Food, The American Bald Eagle, and Elvis and his Influence on Music. GC Springfield is completing its seventh academic year and the faculty is becoming expert at using a variety of teaching methods to address diverse learning styles.

Global Campuses Foundation facilitates community-based educational experiences for adults with differing abilities tailored to their passions and interests. In addition to teaching, campus participants create course catalogs, attend classes, lead meetings, and organize community service projects. For more information on Global Campuses Foundation, visit www.globalcampuses.org or call Susan at (802) 274-2190.