Meet UCCS OIS graduate, Ryan. He graduated in 2022 with a Comprehensive Higher Education Certificate in Human Services. Ryan now works two jobs; in addition to his part-time job at New Altitude coworking space in Colorado Springs, Ryan works as a Banquet Server at the Broadmoor. Ryan's mom, Ginger, described the initial hesitance of the Broadmoor to hire Ryan in a customer-facing position; the legal team foresaw a liability, so management offered Ryan a job in "laundry or housekeeping, because that's back of the house." Through Ginger's four-month long persistence, the Broadmoor finally agreed to hire Ryan on a trial basis as a Banquet Server. Three years later, Ryan is so beloved, he was recently awarded Employee of the Month! Ryan's employees describe him as "blossoming," "coming out of his shell," and "doing a great job." Visitors at the Broadmoor have also shared how inspired they are by Ryan's dedication and pride in his work.

Ginger reflected on Ryan's growth to get to where he is now. "When [Ryan] first started Kindergarten, he couldn't even go in the classroom because of all the sensory stuff. When he was younger than Kindergarten, I would be the mother in the restaurant with the screaming kid...this went on for years." As a result, their family often opted to stay home where Ryan could remain in a comfortable, predictable environment. Despite the challenges, Ryan's family continued to advocate for inclusive classrooms and settings. "Being around typical peers taught him a lot of things...and being exposed little-by-little and working through that over years, in 12th grade, he was nominated and won Homecoming King!" Ginger says, "It was much easier to give up," but seeing Ryan's happiness in a loud gym of 1,000 high schoolers cheering him on reminded her of the positive outcomes of consistently advocating for inclusion.

Ryan and Ginger described a challenging transition from elementary school to a new environment in middle school. The transition was slightly easier from middle to high school, and "the transition to college was exciting!" On his first day at UCCS, Ryan happily bid his family goodbye. In college, he lived in an apartment on campus, made many friends, and got to take courses he found interesting. As a college internship, Ryan worked as an usher at UCCS's Ent Center for the Arts, which helped prepare him for a job in hospitality. He also gained more self-advocacy skills; according to Ginger, "all the students that I saw, from the time they started Freshmen year, I just saw them grow in that ability to advocate for themselves and have that self agency. It was just amazing to me! Just because someone believed they could do it." 

For more of this inspiring story, watch a video of Ryan and Ginger sharing their reflections.