Jordan Cowling
Jordan Cowling is being honored for the Academic Achievement Award presented for achievement in a particular subject area such as math, science, reading, social studies, language arts, foreign language or a high level of academic achievement on standardized tests.
Jordan lives in Saginaw and attends Kempton Elementary School, in the Saginaw City School District. He is a student with autism which has posed a number of obstacles for him in terms of social and academic adjustments to the classroom. Jordan is a very bright young man and has made significant progress and is only receiving services now for social skills and test taking. Through diligence and hard work, Jordan has proved himself to be an academically advanced learner.
Jordan has developed skills to self-monitor, maintain focus and follow through on assignments and projects. Not only has his work ethic improved at school, it has improved at home and at church as well.
His leadership style is to take “working breaks”; allowing him to gather his thoughts and relax his mind and body; recognizing that he needs to distance himself from overpowering stimuli that have the potential to disrupt his learning.
Jordan is respected by his peers and is considered to be the class “Go-To-Man” when there are facts to be checked.
Evan Popkie
Evan lives in Clinton Township and attends high school at Keith Bovenschen School through Macomb ISD. Evan was born with ataxic cerebral palsy; he is a very bright young man who has not been able to express himself.
His primary response was through “yes/no” questions, making it a laborious task to get to conversational topics. Traditional assistive technology devices that had to be manually manipulated were tried… and failed
In April 2009 he was trained on a dynamic display activated eye gaze device and within one month he was using it with 80% accuracy for both social exchanges and academic work. He currently navigates more than 80 pages independently.
Evan is using this technology for school work, leisure and socialization with peers, family and staff allowing him to be seen as the independent thinker.
Simultaneous to this process, he was also trailing a power wheelchair using head controlled power to navigate his school community. This newfound mobility of both body and mind has dramatically improved his quality of life.
From preschool to high school, his teachers described him as a young man with potential – through his interest and skills with technology, Evan is surpassing potential and moving toward exponential!
Jordan Obrecht
Jordan lives in St. Clair Shores and attends the Lutz School for Work Experience through Macomb ISD. Jordan was born at 23 weeks and spent the first 6 months of his life in the hospital.
He has a cognitive impairment and is legally blind due to retinopathy of prematurity; however, his determination is all there!
Jordan was given a keyboard by his mother at the age of 2 and formal piano lessons did not work, so he learned to play by “ear”; playing a song after hearing it only once. Jordan also sings in perfect pitch with his keyboard and is a skilled entertainer; having been invited to sing Jingle Bells for WYCD radio, play at weddings, Christmas parties, fundraisers and Opening Day for Macomb ISD.
He operates with intuition and empathy, using song to cheer people up. Jordan is expanding his talents by joining a music school called “School of Rock” where he plays keyboard, guitar, works with a vocal coach and is learning to play the drums.
Jordan’s music has provided him the opportunity to develop self-esteem and a positive attitude. He is an inspiration to others to not just follow their dreams, but to love them!