DIRECT SUPPORT PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION WEEK
ADVOCACY & RESOURCE CENTER CELEBRATES JENNY BRYAN
After honing her skills, Jenny spent five years with the Fort Worth Symphony, was a part of a strolling violin group that once played at a surprise birthday party for Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, and also taught violin herself. Jenny was born in Dallas and moved to Upstate New York in 2017. She has a younger brother with cerebral palsy which has given her teaching tools and perspective. Her roles as teacher, tutor, family member and advocate have been a great asset to her role as a DSP. “With my teaching and tutoring, my main goal is to provide hidden teaching moments," Jenny said. "There’s always purpose in what I say and how I say things.” Working through the pandemic created both challenges and opportunities for Jenny. “When COVID first hit and we moved departments and changed positions, I thought of it as a new position," she said. "I look at it as if we have shifted paradigms and I started out anew at the ARC.” It is that positive attitude that makes Jenny such a great DSP. One of her most inspirational moments working at the agency came when she had the opportunity to take two sisters that receive services to a large family reunion, allowing the sisters to connect, party and dance with cousins and other family members. “It was a memorable experience and one of the best things I’ve ever done,” said Jenny. “Some people really struggle and have difficulties in their lives,” she said. “My role is to create a sense of normalcy, provide a light to people and give them hope. I love to entertain and see everyone as a potential friend.”
Jenny Bryan has been working at the Advocacy and Resource Center (ARC) — the Clinton County Chapter of The Arc New York— for three years. She started in June 2019 developing and scheduling activities for senior individuals, and now works in a residence. Prior to working at the ARC, Jenny was a Para- Educator years in Kansas for 11 years, a position that is similar to a Special Education Teaching Assistant. She worked in a classroom setting, tutoring and helping kids with special needs. Jenny is an accomplished violinist. She started playing at age three. As a teenager, she traveled to Westport, NY from Texas each summer to attend the renowned Meadowmount School of Music in the Adirondacks, an intensive summer camp for students studying string instruments. Her summers at Meadowmount brought her to Plattsburgh many times for concerts and other outings.
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