Mary Engler

Student

“The people in the Learning Disabilities program are all great. They won’t let you give up on yourself.”

It was a different world when Mary Engler started at SMC nearly 30 years ago. “I finally had to drop out, because I couldn’t get better than a C in English 21. They didn’t have the support back then for disabled people like they do now. It was really just ‘sink or swim.’”

But Mary didn’t sink, and she seems to be doing swimmingly at SMC. “I was taking word processing classes through the Regional Occupational Program so I could get a job,” she recalls. “And my teacher told me she thought I had the discipline to stay in college, because I do work hard. So I started in the Special Ed computer program, and I’m hanging in there.”

Mary has also been loading up on math classes, and says, “It’s pretty tough, because I’ve never had algebra before. I have problems with perception and dyslexia and sometimes things just get all switched around. But my teachers have been very supportive, and there are lots of math labs and tutors for us. In the ‘old days’,” she says with a laugh, “I used to get so mad and frustrated because I didn’t know what was wrong; but now I do, and it’s getting a lot easier to accept for me.”

Mary has found further support for her efforts to get a degree with a quite unique club at SMC. “I’m in Common Boundaries, which is a club for the students with learning disabilities. We meet and go out for some great trips,” she says. And when asked what her game plan is for her next semester, Mary replied with emphasis, “The Internet! That’s next on my list.”

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