HOPE is all about special stories, interesting stories that you’ll remember for a lifetime such as this one from Morgan. “When I first met KJ, he could only stand with the aid of someone else,” explains Morgan. Therefore, through her weekly sessions with KJ as a Hopester, Morgan sought to help KJ’s physical needs. Working from KJ’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP) goals, Morgan began helping him literally one small step at a time. Over the course of a few months, however, a significant change occurred, and Morgan puts it best in her own words: “Right before Christmas, I was sitting in a chair and KJ pulled himself up using my legs. Standing with a smile—ear to ear—KJ knew he had accomplished something special,” Morgan exclaims.

It’s no surprise that Morgan loves two objects: children with special needs and her aspiring future as a physician’s assistant (PA). Indeed, HOPE has provided her service with children with special needs and something very useful for PA school: “HOPE is not only helping me obtain service hours for PA school, but it is giving me something so much more…the experience with children with special needs that will help me to better understand their conditions and everything else that comes with them not just medically.” Morgan continues, “Although I will be taught the medical aspects of disabilities, the personal experiences HOPE has provided me are not teachable or trainable at all, and for that, I am very thankful.”

Morgan believes in HOPE so much because she thinks “it’s a great way to get college students involved in their communities, and it is something else that can help students get more experience for the medical, psychological, and educational fields of work.” Although becoming a PA is important to Morgan, her favorite characteristic of HOPE is entirely selfless: “HOPE provides me the most precious aspect I have ever felt: sharing the moment when a child realizes that he or she has just accomplished one of his or her IEP goals, just like KJ’s mobility breakthrough.”