Nicole Villemaire

Nicole will be second-year student in Think College Vermont.  She likes going for bike rides and spending time out in the community. She is involved in Special Olympics, and she participates in bocce, basketball, skiing, bowling and soccer. She is a self-advocate, and she is very involved with Green Mountain Self Advocacy Programs in a local self-advocacy group called Next Steps, in St. Albans.  She loves spending time going on vacations like to Florida, and she loves spending time with family. She enjoys staying active and getting a education and being back in the classroom and learning.

This past year, Nicole took English and got an A in the class. Next semester, she is ready to learn and grow in her life skills and learning through the Think College Vermont Program.

Currently, Nicole works two jobs at CDCI and housekeeping at Pillsbury Manor. She wants to be a professional self-advocate and work with people with special needs at some point.  Also, she wants to travel around the world someday, especially to China, England, and Poland.

Nicole is looking forward to going to the National SABE Conference for self-advocacy, this year. She also will be on commities, and do her own summer work, as well as be a volunteer at summer camp, and do a lot  of behind the scenes work for  Special Olympics.

Vacation and today

This week back with mentors I had a good spring break working and had my special Olympic tournament in alpine skiing won gold, silver and sixth place. Today rocked out hip hop class and very tired and slow. Had my internship Monday worked on my leadership training homework and preparing myself for my certificate. Lately it feels like working a lot and cooking and sleeping been so busy wow. This weekend hope to relax and get some sleep. Well it will be my last ski weekend. I am having a fantastic week back at school with friends and mentors.
I will keep you all posted

UVM final journey

This my last UVM college semester and I am rocking it out with my dance hip hop class. Enjoying the beat is awesome and learning the steps is challenging. I love warm ups and getting my dance flow on! One of my hobbies is dance and I enjoy it a lot. My teacher and TA are awesome.

Besides hip hop I am working as a intern at Green Mountain Self Advocacy enjoying my work and being around people. I work to be a better self advocate and to help others. For my future this is a a really great opportunity and my accomplishments to work up to this for a career is amazing opportunity. I am so excited. I am working on so many cool projects and getting to feel a job that I really enjoy and I am passionate about.

Hopefully working on my special project after break and working on my alumni program when I Finnish UVM. I am Getting ready and working to not go into panic mode and stay collected so that I can enjoy the amazing time here.

When I go I want to thank Think College mentors, friends, and program coordinators for an amazing UVM experience that allowed me to learn and grow and be a successful student with encouragement and support.

I also am working on my bus navigation skills, budgeting, working at my internship, and making dance accomplishments, as well as making friends and being part of the UVM campus. I am also in the Active minds club and I really enjoy it a lot.

I am ready to rock out for the time being, Ill keep you posted in my journey of UVM.

Last English Class

My end of the year class was awesome. I had a pizza party and made some new friends! I had a great success in my class.  Homework was challenging, though I pulled through with an A on my midterm  and had a successful experience with my professor and other classmates.  I will remember the laughs, the memories, the writing, the YouTube videos, and we discussed so much.  I’ll take away from the class the hard work and the story times. While I was writing I got my dreams and goals on paper. I did my first UVM class I  am so proud of myself.

Besides English class, I worked with mentors on social skills , building life goals and working on my apps on my school iPad . We worked on so much together and had laughs and tears.  Lots of thanks Think College for accepting me into the program. It was the best first semester.  Thanks, Kiersten and Bryan.

Fun weekend!

This past weekend, I had a great weekend.

On Friday, I went to Bollywood had an awesome time and hung out with Amanda , Taylor, and Amber. I had a blast! My henna tattoo is a flower, and it came  out awesome. We ate  dinner downtown, in Burlington. Taylor had pizza and fries. I had broccoli soup and Asian chicken salad. It was so much fun. I even saw my classmate and friends downtown.

I went to see the Titanic, and it was an awesome show. I saw my friend Andrew and others. I went with Sophia and had lots of fun!

I was being independent and having fun learning to succeed and grow on my own with the great and exciting events.

Lunch with a Classmate

Today, I had work and class. I also had lunch with my classmate, Alexis. It was a fun time getting to catch up and getting to know another uvm student.

Yesterday, I went to get a free Ben & Jerry’s cone – Chocalate Chip cookie dough. It was yummy. Been stresseed with a reasearch paper I have to write for English. I am writing it on Self-Advocacy which is what I am happy about. Today, at lunch, I Saw Allison and gave her a hug.

Today I am with Sophia and are going to Autism Awareness Day, in Montpelier, and I am so excited to be going with Sophia.

Lots going on  in my life – been Crazy. My roommates, cousin, and I were all in the news  from the Norwich basketball tournament that was really exciting. I won first place that day.

Also, I got an A on my midterm which I am happy about. Yay!

Fun times!

My teacher is awesome. Today we saw a YouTube video; it was sweet.  Today was a Think College get-together.  Alison and I spent time with Andrew, BJ, and Cora, and then Devon joined us.  I learned to use photo booth on my apps and take pictures. Sweet! I played pool and joked around with Bj.

Today my teacher is going to let me have my paper assignments earlier so I can get a head start. I am so excited! I just worked on homework and recently got my reading done. I am so happy!

Work is great. Steve and I joked around today, and made me laugh.  I am excited my co-workers are funny at times!

Nicole

New think college student

Hi everyone,
I am the newest think college student. I love uvm. I am taking an english class and love spending time with my friend Taylor doing zumba. This is my first semester in the program. I have writing partner sessions. I played UNO with BJ, and ate at Brenans with Taylor, Cora, and Alison. I got a yummy maple milkshake.

We missed the bus today, and are waiting for the next one. I really enjoy uvm, the mentors, and living the college life.

Nicole