GENESEO, N.Y. -- Rising senior Kendon Bates ’18 presented his research earlier this summer at the Disability Studies in Education conference in Minneapolis, Minn.
Bates, who is majoring in childhood education with special education, and a concentration in history, based his presentation on a fall project he prepared for Associate Professor Linda Ware’s required curriculum course for majors.
“Kendon continued to work with me in the spring, and his paper was accepted for presentation,” said Ware. “This conference is not specifically for undergraduates—he was the only presenter this year distinguished as such among many nationally and internationally recognized junior and senior Disability Studies scholars.”
Bates, who has Asperger’s, suffered the loss of his father when he was 12-years-old. The paper he presented, “Letter to My Younger Self,” is a list of eight helpful tips he wishes he could go back and tell his 12-year-old self on the day his dad died.
Bates says that dealing with his father’s death was difficult, but having a disability compounded the already life-altering event of losing a parent at a young age.
“I wish I knew these eight points then and what was coming in my future,” said Bates. “I would have had a better understanding of myself if I did.”
Following his presentation at the IDSE conference, Bates said he received positive feedback on his paper and received multiple requests for a copy of his “letter.”
This fall Bates will begin his student teaching requirement. The first of his two placements is in a first-grade classroom in the Batavia City School District. After graduation, he hopes to get accepted into Syracuse City School District’s Urban Fellowship program.
While at Geneseo, Bates has participated in several education clubs and plays intramural sports, including broomball and volleyball. And, “most importantly,” he says, he plays the cow bell in the pep band!
Bates’ paper presentation at IDSE was supported, in part, by the Undergraduate Travel Grants Program. He is the 11th Geneseo student who has presented at this conference since 2008.
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