Hello,

 

My name is Andrew Blythe.  I want to take this opportunity to formally introduce myself to family and friends of Bell House.  I have cerebral palsy.  I officially moved in on June 24th of this year.  I found out about Bell House during the summer of 2004 when I had the privilege of volunteering once or twice a week for about a month.  I had a chance to interact with many of the residents through showing different movies and leading wheelchair exercise classes.  My volunteer experience left me a very good impression of Bell House.  I had no idea at that particular moment in time that I would find myself living at Bell House developing new friendships, as well as gaining a new sense of independence and self-sufficiency.

 

I was born in Wilmington, Delaware on February 20th, 1976.  I lived in Allentown, Pennsylvania until June of 2002.  My father worked at Mack Trucks, Inc. at their headquarters in Allentown.  When Volvo Trucks-N.  America bought out a portion of Mack, Volvo wanted to bring a skilled legal team to the Greensboro headquarters.  So, in a nutshell, that is how my family and I ended up in Greensboro.  While living in Pennsylvania, I attended Salisbury High School in Allentown (technically in Salisbury Township).  I received my high school diploma in June of 1996.  I then decided to apply to Saint Andrews Presbyterian College, a four year liberal arts school, which is located in Laurinburg, NC.  I learned St. Andrews accepted my application in weeks.  Shortly after arriving at St. Andrews for a 5-week shortened semester during the summer of 1996, I personally learned that the region known as the sandhills which includes Laurinburg can and does heat up like a brick oven on a pretty regular basis over the course of a typical summer!  It took some time to adjust to those drastic temperatures.   I ended up earning a double major (B.A. in Business Administration and Religious studies).  The Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration had a strong emphasis towards the field of sports management because while I was a student at St. Andrews, I was very interested in the Students Activities Union.  Periodically, I would give the student activity director ideas to ponder concerning potential student activities.  I got together with friends and started a bowling club specifically for students with disabilities.  The club was designed for students who could not participate in standard collegiate teams.  In my opinion, St. Andrews did a wonderful job in preparing me for life after school.

 

My other interests include, but are not limited to: travel, meteorology, sports and music.  When I was a student at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 1998-1999, I participated in Adapted Intramural Recreational Sports (A.I.R.S.) which consisted of a myriad of different adaptive sports.  I participated in wheelchair basketball, adaptive snow-skiing, weight lifting, rock climbing, etc.  I transferred back to St. Andrews, due in large part, to having familiar professors and small class sizes.

 

As I open a new chapter in my life, I remember my college days.  I hope to make some new friends.

 

By: Andrew Blythe

Fall/Winter 2006 Edition

Page 4

For a fun contest this year's fall festival, Bell House had a Pumpkin Decorating Contest.  Bell House provided: a bag with feathers, glue, rainbow color paint, little fabric balls, pipe cleaners, foam pieces, scissors, plastic eye balls and construction paper.  We could choose the theme from the following: pirate, funny, most creative and cowboy.  There were four entries: an American Indian with war paint,  a two-faced cowboy, a bad hair day and a pirate.  The American Indian won the "most creative" award.  "A bad hair day" won the "funniest" award.  The two-faced cowboy had a cowboy hat on, so everybody won.

 

By: Nicholas L. Andrews