30th Anniversary History Book

“We had limited funds,” Latham said. “So we did everything we could do to make it work.” Marsha Glines said Beacon embraced a teaching approach that

Blake Neill enjoyed Beacon. “They treated us well,” said Blake, who has some autistic traits and labors to express himself through language. He graduated in 1997 with a degree in general studies and a minor in computers. Now living north of Dallas with his mother, Blake, 46, has worked in security and retail and is contemplating going back to school to further his education. Beacon, Sylvia Neill said, gave her son “a lot of confidence and independent skills.” The college’s first year was difficult, but exhilarating as well, Glines said. The budget was lean, meaning there was no room for monetary mistakes, regardless of how small. Most importantly, the students and instructors had to figure out how to make new teaching and learning methods work. “We just all clicked and worked multiple tasks,” Glines said. “If we had to paint walls, we painted walls. We knew everyone and everything, whether we wanted to or not.”

The initial class of students, Glines said, was “an incredible group.” They were cheer ful, adaptable and eager to learn, in her estimation. Beacon’s first class produced nine graduates from a total student body of 36. The college operated out of a building that was purchased and several leased buildings, including a one- time restaurant and a former dress shop that eventually was torn down and replaced in 2013 with Beacon Hall, a two-story state-of-the-art building that houses the president’s office, other administrative offices, and classrooms and serves as the school’s signature landmark. Glines often cooked Sunday brunch for students in the building once known in Leesburg as the Total Affairs Restaurant. Sitting at the corner of Main and Canal Streets, the structure — one of the few remaining examples at the time of pebble architecture in Florida — served as a dining hall, the library, three classrooms, study rooms, and faculty offices during Beacon’s first year. The modest beginnings did not faze Glines, who liked to point out to anyone who would listen that Beacon’s first graduating class of nine was the same size as Harvard University’s inaugural year back in 1642. “Everybody starts somewhere,” she told the Orlando Sentinel during an interview at the conclusion of Beacon’s first year in 1990.

was weighted more toward education as opposed to therapy.

Marsha Glines

The overarching theme would be personalized instruction, figuring out the best way to reach each student. No more one size fits all. “We brought a different pedagogy,” she said. “We brought college-level courses. Everybody deserves a shot at college.” Glines saw Beacon as a place that would welcome students who did not fit into the traditional college concept of attend a lecture, take notes, study and hope to pass the next test. Classes would be small, she pledged, ensuring professors could spend quality time with the students, figuring out what instructional style worked best for each individual. She envisioned Beacon as a “celebration of students who are wired differently” and encouraged her charges to do volunteer work in and around Leesburg. “It should be social,” she said of Beacon’s student life. “It should be uplifting. It should be positive.”

The overarching theme would be personalized instruction, figuring out the best way to reach each student. No more one size fits all.

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