30th Anniversary History Book

Saudi Arabia In October 2014, President Hagerty and Beacon’s provost, Dr. Shelly Chandler, were invited as keynote presenters for the 4th International Conference on Disability and Rehabilitation sponsored by the King Salman Center for Disability Research in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In July 2015, after being approached by the King Salman Center, Beacon College hosted a four-week pre-college experience, “The Compass Program.” Funded through a grant from the center, seven Saudi high school students took part on the Leesburg campus (and surrounding Central Florida venues) in individualized evaluations and exercises to build academic and social skills. The Compass Program’s goal was to familiarize students with collegiate life and expectations. The Saudi students lived in dorms, took classes, and did everything else Beacon students would do.

Summer for Success students in the Mac Lab.

of Beacon students graduate in four years, compared with a 57% six-year graduation rate for all of higher education. 70%

Beacon’s Compass team was comprised not only the college’s faculty and professional staff but also a cadre of Beacon students, who kept the dynamic residential program running seamlessly. As part of the grant, the college reviewed the evaluative data on all the Saudi students and developed strategies for enhancing student performance. The data and strategies were presented in December 2015 when two of Beacon’s psychologists, Drs. Oksana Hagerty and Andrea Marsden, traveled to Riyadh for extensive, individualized briefing sessions with the participants and their families. Dale Herold, Beacon’s vice president for admissions and enrollment, was tasked with the overall leadership of this pioneering international venture. “It was Beacon’s first experience of running a summer program of this complexity,” says Herold. “It was very challenging because it was not only our first effort, but it involved international students. It was a courageous trial for the college, and was a very successful initiative, due in no small measure to the expertise, collaborative spirit, and devotion of the team that we assembled.”

When the international tensions of the Yemeni Crisis gripped the region, a planned second year of

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