Valencia College Stories

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

一些人质疑她能否完成高中学业，但菲斯-克里斯蒂娜·邓肯可以 determined to prove the doubters wrong.

— by Linda Shrieves

Faith-Christina Duncan是一个笑容满面，容光焕发，身高4英尺8英寸的正能量束.

She’s hard-working, happy, and determined to succeed. Yet, when Faith-Christina Duncan 出生后，医生不情愿地告诉她的父母，他们很抱歉地通知了她 couple that the baby had Down Syndrome.

Mike and Nancy-Carole Duncan didn’t blink. Instead, they embraced Faith-Christina 然后开始工作，安排和神经科医生，理疗师，还有 心脏病专家（需要他们来修复她心脏上的洞）开始提供帮助 Faith-Christina overcome any obstacle that stood in her way.

And, boy, did they succeed.

尽管她的父母被告知她可能永远都上不了普通高中 23岁的菲丝-克里斯蒂娜·邓肯毕业于纽约大学 毕业于金沙注册学院，澳门金沙注册文科副学士学位和3.79 GPA. She was also a finalist to be Valencia College’s Distinguished Graduate.

现在，在金沙注册学院学习完美国手语后，她开始工作了 并开始为当地的基督教青年会做手语翻译 她在乔治亚州的新社区，并希望在其他场所做美国手语翻译. She also wants to be a motivational speaker – and it’s easy to see why.

她说：“在我的一生中，人们一看到我就认为我患有唐氏综合症。. “I want them to look past the outside of a person who has a disability. Get to know them. Be their friend.”

 

It started with a family motto

当费思-克里斯蒂娜和她的姐姐德斯蒂尼-安还小的时候，他们家就有 每当有人说Faith-Christina做不到什么的时候，他们就会依靠这句座右铭.

“邓肯是坚定的”成了他们的口头禅，也是Faith-Christina使用的口头禅 频繁地——从她上幼儿园到高中的时候，当过辅导员 辅导员警告迈克和南希-卡罗尔·邓肯，费思-克里斯蒂娜可能需要6分钟 她还需要几年才能毕业，澳门金沙注册很可能只能拿到毕业证书.

“This woman didn’t know me and my wife,” recalls Mike Duncan.

她不知道邓肯一家很久以前就把他们的餐厅变成了健身房 他们用了无数的练习来帮助她学会走路， to build up strength to hold a pen or pencil. She had no idea that they’d changed 把每天的琐事或就寝时间都变成某种治疗——所有这些都有一个目标： to help Faith-Christina become a productive citizen.

“如果她在圣诞节得到玩具，它们必须有一些治疗的角度，”迈克回忆说 Duncan. “我们所做的一切都是治疗，从她醒来的那一刻起 我们会玩翻滚游戏，让她锻炼背部肌肉.”

这个指导顾问不知道的是这个基本的事实：而不是感觉 他们受到了打击，邓肯夫妇感到很幸运有一个唐氏综合症患儿 Syndrome.

That is obvious to anyone who met them along their journey.

When the family moved to St. Cloud from Port Charlotte, Faith-Christina was in kindergarten.

尽管她比大多数同学都矮，但还是有 no obvious differences. She didn’t have special ed classes and, other than physical 治疗和一些小的住宿，她和其他人没有什么不同 other child.  当她转到海王星中学时，她很快就出名了 对工作人员，她性格开朗，对每一位办公室职员问好 each morning.  There, she earned a nickname – the Mayor of Neptune Middle School – 并与一位老师合作，在学校成立了“最好的朋友”分会.

上高中的时候，Faith-Christina在当地的Chick-Fil-A餐厅工作， and volunteering with the Down Syndrome community of Central Florida. She began quilting and sewing gifts for Down Syndrome babies.

“我想对新父母产生影响，所以我开始制作婴儿毯子 放入唐氏综合症患儿父母的新生儿篮子中，”送给新父母 by the Down Syndrome Association of Central Florida. Today, those blankets have become a symbol of hope and inspiration. “I want them to say: ‘Look what your child can do. There is no limit to the possibilities.’ “

“当人们告诉我，我不能做某件事，因为我与众不同，或者因为我 如果我有残疾，我会看着他们，告诉他们不要‘贬低’我的能力。. “I can do the same things you can. I just like to do them my own way.”

 

电影制作人Shawn Vela与唐氏综合症协会合作 Florida, made this award-winning video about Faith-Christina Duncan.

 

College choice

尽管困难重重，花了很长时间学习，Faith-Christina还是从 high school with a grade-point-average over 3.5. So, when it came time to think about 在大学里，邓肯一家看了很多选择，最后决定金沙注册是最合适的 for her.

他们喜欢金沙注册，因为他们的大女儿已经在金沙注册上学了 knew Faith-Christina wouldn’t get swallowed up by a huge campus. Plus, they had good 在金沙注册奥西奥拉校区工作的朋友，可以提供很好的支持系统 for her.  “澳门金沙注册，金沙注册校区离我们家不到7英里，”迈克·邓肯说 said. “这是一个小校园，更容易操作，足够近，如果有什么 occurred, we could get her fairly quickly.”

As for Faith-Christina, she was nervous about starting college. “I didn’t know if I could do it,” she says. “But I have always loved school and I’ve learned to believe in yourself and have the determination to push through.”

虽然刚拿到驾照时她有点害怕，但她很快就拿到了驾照 began driving herself to campus. She navigated any challenges herself.

第一个学期结束后，大流行来袭，费思-克里斯蒂娜决定继续 with her classes – just online. She spread her books and papers and laptop on the kitchen table and converted that to her classroom. “I’ve already been on campus,” she told her parents. “I know I can do it online.”

因此，当一位教授劝她放弃一门课时，她坚持了下来，并考虑了一下 it a challenge, vowed to work doubly hard – and passed the class.

一路上，关于faith - christina的消息开始在她的信仰团体中传播开来 and in the Down Syndrome community. Faith-Christina has been featured in Woman’s Day 杂志，并被评为“奥兰多：城市杂志”的年度女性.” She was 也是一个鼓舞人心的视频的主题，该视频在2022年澳门金沙注册了地区艾美奖.

现在，从金沙注册学院毕业后，她已经准备好迎接人生的下一个篇章.
Challenge accepted!