Recent Seckman High School graduate Leah Beilman is the first Fox C-6 School District student to be accepted into an exclusive program the University of Missouri-St. Louis offers.
Leah, 19, of the Arnold area will take part in the university’s two-year Succeed program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Students in the program take classes at the university to pursue a Chancellor’s certificate in a field of their interest.
“It is really exciting,” said Leah, who has autism. “I am kind of nervous. I am moving on to a big adventure, and I am ready to go.”
According to UMSL’s website, 64 students have completed the Succeed program, which was launched in 2013. Of those students, 74.6 percent have found employment, and 47.3 percent live independently.
Jonathan Lidgus, director of UMSL’s office of inclusive postsecondary education, said about 50 students apply to the Succeed program each year, and between 18 and 23 are accepted.
“There are roughly 300 of these programs in the U.S.,” Lidgus said. “That sounds like a lot, but that is about 6 percent of colleges across the United States. Getting into one of these programs is equivalent to getting into an Ivy League school, and sometimes, it is harder.”
Leah said she was thrilled when she received notice in the mail in March that she was accepted to the program.
“I jumped up and down and screamed with joy,” she said.
Leah said she will move into a dorm room on Aug. 18 and begin taking classes on Aug. 19.
Cheri Beilman, Leah’s mother, said her daughter is ready to start college.
“From the day she found out she was accepted, she wanted to start packing her bags,” Cheri said.
Mike Beilman, Leah’s father, said the Succeed program is a great fit for his daughter.
“We are so proud of her, and we couldn’t have asked for more,” he said.
No limitations
Leah was diagnosed with autism when she was 2, Cheri said.
“At the time, she couldn’t even talk. She didn’t speak in sentences until she was 4,” Leah’s mom said.
Cheri and Mike said they did their best to make sure Leah’s diagnosis didn’t hold her back.
“I think a lot of parents box their kids once they are diagnosed,” Mike said. “We never did that. We gave her expectations that were expected of her at each age.”
Leah’s parents said they received good support from the Fox district while their daughter attended Lone Dell Elementary School and then Seckman Middle and Seckman High schools.
“The Fox School District has been outstanding,” Mike said. “Our push since she was diagnosed was we wanted her to be able to function on her own. We wanted her to be able to do what she needed to do as an adult. The school was outstanding in supporting that.”
Seckman High School special education teacher Andrea Patterson, who has taught Leah for the past four years, said the Beilmans worked well with the district to do what was best for their daughter.
“I see where Leah gets her sense of motivation, purpose and goal setting,” Patterson said. “I remember the first meeting I had with her parents, and they were already talking about what they had planned after graduation and wanting Leah to be independent. They had the goal mindset. It is so nice when you can work with parents as a team.”
Mike credits his daughter’s teachers, especially Patterson, for putting Leah on the path to college.
“The school and teachers have been really good,” he said. “Mrs. P has brought it home. She finished it off. She got Leah higher than we would have expected.”
Leah also has racked up many successes over the years.
She was a student ambassador at the Missouri Youth Leadership Summit in Jefferson City, and she was crowned Missouri Miss Amazing teen in 2022.
Leah volunteers at the Helping Hands for Horses, a nonprofit organization that offers equestrian therapy to adults and children with disabilities, and she is a member of Girl Scout Troop 2253.
Leah also works as a hostess at the Applebee’s Grill + Bar in Arnold, where she has been the employee of the month.
“She has always been very motivated to be independent and do things herself,” Cheri said. “Whether it was tying her shoes or schoolwork, she has always wanted to do what everyone else can do. If she had a motto it would be, ‘Don’t let your disability get in the way of your ability to dream and do what you want to do in life.’ She certainly hasn’t.”
Celebrating Leah
Leah and her family and schoolmates celebrated her acceptance into Succeed on April 17 with a signing-day ceremony in the Seckman High Library.
Mike said about 50 students, a dozen high school staff members and representatives from UMSL were in the library.
“When I walked into the library, I thought there were multiple signings. There were so many people there,” he said. “It was very impressive and a little overwhelming.”
Patterson said she cried during the ceremony.
“To have a student go through this process and go to a college program makes me feel incredibly proud,” she said. “I think it was important for the younger students to see her be recognized so they can strive for things like that.”
Cheri said she hopes her daughter inspires other students and families to apply for Succeed or similar college programs.
“(Other families) may not have known about the program until she got accepted,” Cheri said. “They go to school with Leah, and they know her, so maybe they will be inspired to do the same.”
Collegebound
Lidgus said students in Succeed typically take 12 to 15 credit hours per semester, adding that coursework is modified for the students based on their ability so they can meet their goals.
“The assessments may look a little different, but they are still inclusively attending the course with everyone else,” Lidgus said. “Programs like these give access to a population that traditionally has never been able to access post-secondary education. These programs provide better work outcomes with higher wage rates, higher employment rates and different job opportunities outside of the traditional job opportunities that this population have had.”
Patterson said she has no doubt Leah will thrive in college.
“Even though a lot of things were hard for her academically, she made up for it by having that go-getter attitude,” she said. “She knew from the beginning she wanted to go to college. She wanted a job. She wanted to live on her own. She just always let that drive her.”
Cheri said UMSL is the right fit for her daughter because of Leah’s connection to her family, which includes a brother, Jace Beilman, who also graduated from Seckman High this year, and a stepmother, Katie Blackwell.
“We are a very close family. I think it would be hard for her to miss family events,” Cheri said. “This way, she can still be close to our family.”
Leah said she looks forward to taking classes and meeting new people at UMSL, and she already has plans for after she completes the Succeed program.
“I want to become a teacher’s assistant at Seckman High School in Miss Patterson’s room,” she said.