June 1, 2022
Super scholar
Around Town
St. Louis Community College graduate born with athetoid cerebral palsy adds a degree to a long list of impressive accomplishments
COMMUNITY VOICES By Sharon Cotner . Pg. 2 A SENIOR MOMENT. Pg. 2 Save Our Youth offering free mental health counseling for St. Louis County youth. Pg. 3
By Wendy Todd Sean Gold just graduated from St. Louis Community College with a degree in web design. Prior to graduating, he made history as the first student to ever speak at the college’s staff development day, where he addressed over 600 virtual attendees. Gold has even been featured in a TED Talk and is a published author with a book titled “Pure Love or Is It?” Gold has been an extraordinary student and at only 22 years old has already achieved notable accomplishments. And one of his greatest triumphs is overcoming his disability. Gold was born with athetoid cerebral palsy, a physical impairment that negatively impacts his muscle tone, balance, movement and posture. Gold’s airway was closed at birth and uses a tracheostomy tube to breathe. He is nonverbal and communicates with his phone or computer. He is able to walk on his own with braces, but uses a wheelchair for longer distances. Gold has not allowed these challenging disabilities to hinder his capacity to reach his ever-growing list of goals or define him. And it hasn’t been easy as many have attempted to project their limited perceptions of disabled people onto him. “My family had to fight to get me into regular classes after preschool,” Gold said. “I’ve always had to prove my worth due to ableist thoughts and presumptions of me. Disabilities in society are always made to feel like a bad thing as if becoming disabled is worse than death. So, I have had many people doubt me then turn around and say I’m “inspiring.”
Northwest News STARTING JUNE 1: St. Louis County Library and the St. Louis Jewish Community Center announce SLCL Authors at the J. Pg. 4
Features (FLIP)
Sean Gold just graduated from St. Louis Community College with a degree in web design.
But Gold didn’t let anyone else’s idea of what he could accomplish hold him back. And graduating from college was one of his top ambitions. Because of his disabilities, it took Gold five years to finish school at STLCC, as he requires extra time to finish tasks. But he never gave up. He took time off but always resumed his studies. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Gold attended two classes in person and did the rest virtually. Most of that experience went smoothly but there were a few issues. “The challenge I had was sometimes getting the professor’s attention,” Gold said. “For my online classes, it was very easy to just email them. The biggest challenges were in my math classes because I had to
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type everything and very few symbols can be done with a keyboard. The online classes were not as challenging.” After the pandemic started, all of his classes were virtual, which made it much easier for Gold to keep up with his studies and engage with other students. He hopes STLCC will continue offering virtual learning. “Virtual classes are the best as they provide me with the most independence ever,” Gold said. “I could interact with classmates face to face, have meaningful conversations and I didn’t have to interrupt my family’s day even though they don’t mind at all. By having the option to See ‘SCHOLAR’ page 2
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