Rhodes Students Change Lives

Rhodes State College is more than just going to class and taking tests. Rhodes’ programs are instilling hope into people’s lives and transforming students into leaders.

Through programs like the Occupational Therapy Assistant training program, students like Shahidah Saafir get opportunities to challenge themselves and enhance the lives of others.

A shy inner-city girl of Muslim heritage, Shahidah started the OTA program in the fall of 2004. Instructor Krista Fylak helped her conquer her shyness by putting Shahidah in charge of the students’ equestrian therapy work at Fassett Farm in Cridersville. The chance to lead taught Shahidah to assert herself and enabled her to overcome her fear of religious scorn.

“She was getting on me from the beginning to be more assertive,” Shahidah recalls. “I had to learn to put my own problems aside and be a part of the group. I didn’t feel I would be accepted—but I was. This is the first time I’ve felt accepted in my education.”

At Fassett Farm, Shahidah and the other students help children with muscular dystrophy, cerebral Palsy, Down syndrome, autism, multiple sclerosis and other developmental disabilities to ride horses and ponies. The experience allows these children, who are normally bound to wheelchairs and crutches, to experience the physical sensation of walking upright. Horseback riding moves the rider’s body gently and rhythmically in a manner similar to a human’s gait, and can improve flexibility, balance and muscle strength in riders with physical disabilities.

“They’re holding their own trunk. It’s like the horse is acting like their feet,” Shahidah said. “I get to see a child going from a wheelchair to a horse. That’s very rewarding.”

On the horses, children accustomed to looking up at other people are now looking down from horseback. They learn to guide the horse and experience independence and empowerment unknown to them in most other parts of their lives, helping them build their confidence, patience and self-esteem.

“It’s not just a 9 to 5 job,” Shahidah said. “You’re helping others and you feel good about what you’re doing.”

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