UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Early Childhood Special Ed. & Rehab Counseling
A PA S S A GE TO
UK student’s spring break trip ingnites
passion to teach abroad
W
HEN MOLLY BALDRIDGE WAS A SENIOR
STUDYING SPECIAL EDUCATION AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY, SHE SIGNED UP
for a class that takes a spring break trip to India to volunteer at
a school for students with special needs. Upon coming home, she
was soon standing in Dr. Amy Spriggs’ office at the UK College of
Education, asking for help in finding a way to go back.
“It hadn’t even been a month since we had returned from my first trip
to India, where UK had partnered alongside the rural school for kids
with special needs,” Baldridge said. “But I had seen a glimpse of the
school, the needs, the lack of education and acceptance for these kids
and I knew I had to get back. My teacher knew it, too.”
She graduated in December with a degree in special education,
specializing in moderate to severe disabilities, and the offer of a job
that would have kept her in Lexington. Instead, she took a leap of faith
and made the trip to India, where she is staying in a rural village in the
southern part of the country called Mayasandra. It is part of the state of
Karnataka and is about three hours west of its capital, Bangalore. The
school where she volunteers was created to provide a free education for
students with special needs, who often are not accepted in “regular”
schools in India.
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COE COMMUNICATOR | APRIL 2016