{"id":6752,"date":"2018-01-15T11:51:47","date_gmt":"2018-01-15T16:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/news\/?p=6752"},"modified":"2018-02-14T09:22:55","modified_gmt":"2018-02-14T14:22:55","slug":"exploration-of-first-fridays-leads-elizabethtown-grad-to-life-of-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/2018\/01\/15\/exploration-of-first-fridays-leads-elizabethtown-grad-to-life-of-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploration of First Fridays leads Elizabethtown grad to life of service"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Laughter wells up from deep inside Ally Rohland, bursting forth and blanketing those around her with a genuine sense of well-being and joy. Her smile is broad and sincere. Her voice reassuring. She drinks in each moment of life with wonder.<\/p>\n

Rohland works each day in a room filled with individuals who are just like her. They bubble over with enthusiasm and curiosity; they practically vibrate with a passion for life. But, there is a significant difference between Rohland and the others. Unlike her, they are differently abled, adults with intellectual disabilities who come to her place of employment to explore a part of themselves that, until now, might have lain dormant, untapped.<\/p>\n

Rohland, a 2014 Elizabethtown College English-professional writing graduate, gives back to her community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, as coordinator at Friendship Heart Gallery<\/a>. The Gallery, an extension of Friendship Community, provides a venue for artistic expression for adults with intellectual disabilities and offers their creations at the non-profit gallery in Lancaster City.<\/p>\n

\n

It was perfect timing for them and perfect timing for this transitional time in my life.\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It was a love of Lancaster\u2019s First Fridays and the city\u2019s Gallery Row, along Prince Street and surrounding avenues, that initially drew Rohland to Friendship Heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I moved to downtown Lancaster I loved to explore,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019d see the galleries on First Friday and I\u2019d think how cool it would be to work there. Maybe do social media or marketing.\u201d<\/p>\n

When she came across Friendship Heart Gallery, Rohland said she was immediately jazzed by their motto, \u201cexpressing capabilities,\u201d which harkened back to E-town\u2019s mission of \u201ceducate for service.\u201d<\/p>\n

She emailed the gallery asking about a job.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was perfect timing for them and perfect timing for this transitional time in my life,\u201d she said, about her first year after graduation. The Gallery hired her as a part-time instructor and, for two and a half years, Rohland worked with the \u2018heart artists,\u2019 watching them\u2014and herself–grow in confidence and ability. During that time, she also worked in retail, as a server and as a pet sitting assistant, but her heart belonged with the gallery\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n

Soon, she was fulltime, splitting her hours between working in the studio with the \u2018heart artists\u2019 and in the gallery where their creations are sold.<\/p>\n

As a nonprofit, Friendship Heart Gallery staffing is limited, Rohland said. There is a need for employees to be jacks-of-all-trades. She credits her \u201creal-world learning experiences at Elizabethtown\u201d with her ability to wear multiple hats. In classes and internships, she learned about coordinating schedules, collaboration and communication, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy internship in the (College\u2019s) Office of Marketing and Communications was absolutely amazing. It is so beneficial when I\u2019m writing press releases and social media posts. I use HTML, InDesign and WordPress,\u201d and, she said, the experience gained in the project management is \u201cso valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n

In March 2017, Rohland said, she became Gallery coordinator, overseeing the instructional staff, working with funding and budgeting, building business partnerships. She was excited to be a part of the city\u2019s arts and culture growth and of service to the \u2018heart artists\u2019.<\/p>\n

The individuals\u2014around 70 of them ages 18 through 76\u2014face challenges that range from Down Syndrome to the autism spectrum to mental health diagnoses of bipolar or schizophrenia. The term \u2018individuals\u2019, she said, solidifies the distinct capabilities of every one of us. \u201cThey each impact the world in some way, and the gallery is a place to uncover hidden talents.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program also helps the \u2018heart artists\u2019 with economic independence, Rohland said, referring to money the artists make in the gallery and online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some of the individuals, she said, come to the gallery just because they love to paint; others set personal financial goals of going out to eat, buying a phone, going on a family vacation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne individual, who attends three days a week, has his art in every single outside exhibit,\u201d Rohland said. \u201cHe wrote a list of places he would like to travel.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, Rohland said, she\u2019s confident he\u2019ll go to all of them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Laughter wells up from deep inside Ally Rohland, bursting forth and blanketing those around her with a genuine sense of well-being and joy. Her smile is broad and sincere. Her voice reassuring. She drinks in each moment of life with wonder. Rohland works each day in a room filled with individuals who are just like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":6753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[1140,490,260,1128],"class_list":["post-6752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-world-learning","category-service","tag-academic","tag-achievements-2","tag-english","tag-feature","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6752"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6826,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6752\/revisions\/6826"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}