Sporting a petite build and a smiling face, Cheryl Myers is an ideal representative of the MSU community. She is excited and impressed by the University, its people and its services. Myers transferred here in January from Oakland Community College, where she had finished her basic undergraduate coursework after beginning as a freshman at Central Michigan University. She went to CMU for its deaf education program, which was dismantled shortly before she arrived.
\They really lacked interpreting services, and I couldn't keep my GPA up," said the 23-year- old. Since her original plan was to get a degree in deaf education, when she learned Central's program had been disbanded, she started researching other programs.
"I thought about going to Galludet, but they would not accept me as a transfer student," Myers said. "I would have had to move down to the freshman level again."
She had heard about the program at MSU from friends, one of whom had graduated from MSU. "She told me about the services and said it was a wonderful college to go to for that reason, so I transferred," Myers said.
So far MSU has lived up to her expectations. "It's a big difference from my viewpoint, really improved from my bad experiences in other colleges," Myers said. "I wish I had come here my freshman year instead of CMU," Myers said. "But I didn't know of the services then."
Myers is a deaf student who also has cerebral palsy that affects just her legs. Some of the services she has used include interpreters and transportation. Myers did use information on notetaking, but basically she just chooses someone in class to take notes for her.
"I plan to get a tutor for one of my classes," Myers said.
Myers admits that some of MSU's services could use improvment. "A few times I have been hurrying to get out of class because I'm afraid I'll miss the bus, but then sometimes they're 30 minutes late," she said. Sometimes Myers worries that she's missed the transport, but she can't always call to confirm that. "If there's no TTY in the building, I have to ask someone to call for me," she said.
One might think that coming from smaller universities, the sheer size of MSU's campus would be intimidating. But not to Myers. "The first two weeks I was here I basically carried a map with me," she said.
Myers is originally from Waterford. She is the oldest of eight, and has five half-brothers and 2 stepbrothers, but no sisters. "I think one of the reasons I wanted to become a teacher was because I taught my brothers lots of things, like how to ride a bike, read, write and do math," Myers said. "I just have the motivation to teach."