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The Envelope, Please September 14, 2012, 6:00 amComment

An Advocate for Students With Disabilities Imagines His Ideal College

By BRYAN STROMER

The Envelope, Please

Bryan Stromer, a student at the New York City Lab School for Collaborative Studies, is one of eight high school seniors around the world blogging about their college searches.

The bus came to an abrupt stop and we were there. I was among a group of 45, high school freshmen at the time, who stepped onto the recently mowed grass in front of the admissions office. We were about to begin our first college tour.
The purpose of the tour was not to consider a specific college, but instead to get a taste of what the college experience was like, from the independence that came along with it to the work ethic that we would need to be successful.
One of the highlights of the college tour was being able to speak with current college students while eating lunch in the dining hall. But most of us were so fascinated by the create-your-own-sundae bar awaiting us in the hall that we found it hard to pay attention.
But I do remember one of the students asking us, “Do you know what type of college you want to go to?”
I recalled when my family and I visited my older sister, who goes to a large state school that is very sports oriented. We went to a football game, and afterward, the parking lot had been transformed into a tailgate party. It seemed as though the entire campus had erupted into mass chaos. Students with the school mascot painted across their chests wove through rows of cars, chanting a battle cry on their way to watch a fight that had broken out between the alumni of the opposing team and the home team.
This was not for me. I did not want my college career to revolve around sports. I was never a huge sports fan, probably because I was not very good at them. But that might have something to do with my disability. I have cerebral palsy.
One of my greatest fears about college is that an overly zealous campus police officer might see my cerebral palsy walk as that of someone being drunk.

On the bus ride home from the college tour, I dreamed about what college would be like. I also thought about how the college tour instilled in me the drive to want to achieve all that I can, so that I could have a choice when it came time to pick my college.
When the online version of the Common Application sprang to life in August, I began to think about my personal statement. I found myself thinking about that college tour that I went on in freshman year, and how much I had grown and all the things I had accomplished since that experience.
I thought about my work as an advocate for students with disabilities in New York City. The focus of my work has been to show that students with disabilities have something to contribute to the conversation and community. This is something that I have been fighting for in my own life. I have been fighting for people to not judge me by my disability, but instead by my accomplishments.
A majority of students with disabilities in New York City public schools do not graduate. I have a responsibility to make the most out of my college process and journey so that I change things in the future and redefine what it means to have a disability.
I am excited to share my journey through the college process with you.

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Mr. Stromer, a student at the New York City Lab School for Collaborative Studies, is one of eight high school seniors around the world blogging about their college searches for The Choice.