NIU graduate student and instructor Christopher Huber is using his real life experiences to help others through the university’s Recovery Support Specialist Program.  Huber says those admitted to the program come with a road to recovery from substance use or mental health issues that is supplemented by classroom learning to prepare for a state credential test as a Recovery Support Specialist.  The state program is offered in 11 educational institutions with the idea that those who have gone through recovery are best able to help others through their path to recovery.  The NIU program covers two semesters and is a hybrid model combining both on-campus and home-based learning.  All expenses are paid for by the state.

 

Huber says he sees his role as “being a student success coach.”.  He says the Recovery Support Specialist designation is a gateway to becoming a human services counselling professional.  Huber explained that there are usually about 25 students per cohort program and about five will go on to get a Baccalaureate degree in the field.  He said the study program combines self-motivation, small group interactions, and peer advocate/peer professional sharing of experiences. The NIU program replaces a previous state learning program which only involved an independent study component.

 

More information is available at https://go.niu.edu/RSSprogram.

May 25, 1803 – American author and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson is born in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

May 27, 1837 – Legendary wild west figure Wild Bill Hickok is born in Troy Grove, LaSalle County, Illinois.

 

May 29, 1917 – Naval hero, congressman, senator, and 35^th U. S. President John F. Kennedy is born in Brookline, Massachusetts.

 

May 31, 1943 – American Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback (who led the New York Jets to a Super Bowl win in 1969) Joe Namath is born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.

May 26, 1940 – The Dunkirk evacuation began on the northern coast of France to save Allied forces trapped by the German Army.  Vessels of all shapes and sizes ferried over 340,000 soldiers across the English Channel concluding on June 2.

 

May 29, 1953 – Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay are first to reach the summit of Mount Everest as part of a British Expedition.

 

May 30, 1868 – The first national observance of Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is inspired by Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic for the purpose of honoring Union soldiers who died in the Civil War.  It is now observed on the last Monday of May as a federal holiday for mourning all military personnel who have died while serving in the United States armed forces.

 

May 30, 1922 – The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated featuring the compelling statue of a “seated” Lincoln along with carved inscriptions of his Gettysburg address and second inaugural address.