Autism Initiative at Mercyhurst University

A special welcome to what we believe is our largest AIM freshman class ever! We are thrilled to welcome students from 10 different states and a really great group of students from Erie County as well! Our freshmen have spent this week participating in AIM Orientation, Laker Launch Day, and enjoyed some bowling last night with juniors/seniors participating in AIM Career Week. They've been busy and have a full schedule of events with all other freshman until classes begin on Wednesday.

We also loved having AIM Families with us for a couple of days - we host a day full of information sessions for families as they go through this time of transition for their family and their student. We also included a guest presenter, Elizabeth Green, OT, to who gave a wonderful presentation titled "From Support at Home to Support on Campus."

Welcome home, and Carpe Diem!

AIM Career Week 2026 is underway! We've welcomed 12 juniors/seniors who came back to campus a week early to gain valuable insight and experience through this program. Among our activities this week includes various workshops, some shopping for business clothing, a networking reception, two rounds of mock interviews, a visit to a prospective employer, and more.

Stay tuned for updates later in the week - but in the meantime -- do you you have any tips for our students as they think about their plans for after graduation?

One last post on CREATE 2026 - we have SO MANY people to thank for making this a wonderful experience for our students. We are a tightly connected campus and we love our partners who lend their expertise for our student participants. Special thanks to Dining, Learning Support Services, Academic Support, , Police & Safety, the IT Department, Sustainability Office, Residence Life, Title IX, Counseling Center, Campus Wellness, , , Community Engagement at Mercyhurst University, , Student Financial Services, President's Office, and more.

Special thanks to those who hosted us on our excursions around town - Hagen History Center, , Erie Art Museum, Erie Zoo, , Ye Ole Sweet Shoppe, Erie Maritime Museum & U.S. Brig Niagara and Five Iron Golf and Erie Insurance.

Also special shout out to our resident photographer for the summer Henry!

I'm sure we missed others - it truly takes a village to put this program together, and on behalf of our entire team - thank you.

CREATE 2026 is in the books! We can't believe how fast it went. Congratulations to our program participants - they showed incredible growth, perseverance, and grit over these three weeks. They all met new people, tried new foods, learned lots of new things - and hopefully fell in love with Mercyhurst a bit as well!

Some highlights from week three included a visit from President Livingston, lots of studying and preparing for their final exam, some bingo with the Sisters of Mercy and community, kickball, and much more. We are incredibly proud of all they accomplished, and excited for about half the group to join us this fall, and hope many of the others who head back for senior year of high school will join us in fall 2027!

We'll have one final recap post later this week - then we gear up for next year, as our first-year students arrive on campus a week from today! ☘

Way to go Isabelle! We're very proud of the amazing work that she's doing with the Harborcreek Historical Society! They have been a great partner with our NeuroLaunch program this summer, and we are so grateful to see her gaining this valuable experience in preparing for her career post-college!

If you are part of an organization interested in partnering with our Brad McGarry Center for Neurodiversity, please contact Ryan at [email protected]!

We continue to thank our summertime helpers!

During the months of June and July, Mercyhurst University History major Isabelle Radcliffe is interning at the Harborcreek Historical Society, focusing on research that can be completed remotely and helping to process and catalog new donations to the society’s collection.

Like Hannah, Isabelle’s internship with the society will be a paid experience. It is being supported by the Autism Initiative at Mercyhurst’s program called NeuroLaunch, which supports students in gaining meaningful, real-world work experience in their fields of interest. As part of this program, the university covers students’ hourly wages, helping to remove any financial barriers for participating organizations like the Harborcreek Historical Society.

Isabelle is a sophomore at Mercyhurst. She volunteered previously at the St. Martin Center Food Pantry and is a member of the university’s Sailing and History Clubs.

In addition to working at the Harborcreek Historical Society, Isabelle is spending a few hours each week interning for the Lawrence Park Historical Society, too.

Thank you, Isabelle!

Can't believe we're in our final week of CREATE! We've been busy, so our week two recap is a few days late - but some highlights include our Explore Erie event downtown, a visit to Erie Insurance, a trip to Presque Isle State Park, and lots of fun social activities. We're having a blast and look forward to more fun this week!

CREATE week one is in the books! We had lots of fun, met new people, experienced some challenges, and we all grew more comfortable with the new surroundings. Highlights of the week included plenty of time in class learning, College 101 and AISE-V Domain workshops, study hall, and lots of social activities! We also hosted our Chopped competition, visited the Hagen History Center to learn about Erie history and employment opportunities in museums! We also know college is also about making the most of your weekends - so we included trips to the Millcreek Mall and Round1 arcade as well as the Erie Zoo! Here's a few photos from the week - more to come!

Thanks again for our friends at Dining (Parkhurst) -- they are wonderful to us in many ways, especially hosting us for Chopped. They also awarded nice prizes for the top two teams - check the photos for one of the prizes, a nice notepad one of our winners used to reflect on the experience :-).

There are some limited spaces available in our dual enrollment program for Fall 2026! We're excited to offer this for a third year - and again thanks to a generous funder we're able to offer full scholarships for these courses.

Two courses being offered - Intro to Cyber Security, and European History to the Renaissance. Both are online and asynchronous, and taught by tenured faculty who have lots of experience working with neurodivergent learners.

Space is limited - so if interested please contact Ryan Palm at [email protected] ASAP!

CREATE 2026 is underway! Yesterday we welcomed 32 students and their families with move-in, opening meetings, time in the bookstore, campus tours, and more. Families have left, and students had their first class session this morning! We'll have plenty of photos and updates over the next three weeks - but here's a few photos from day one! Special shoutout to our student staff members helping the CREATE participants get moved into their rooms - we have a great group.

A few last photos to share from IGNITE -- on Friday the students set out on a tour of Erie - seeing some of our favorite stops like the Tom Ridge Environmental Center, Hagen History Center, and some sweet treats and shopping at Romolo's! We can't believe how fast the week went, and we were sad to see everyone leaving yesterday. We hope for many it is not a 'goodbye' - but instead a 'see you soon' when they return to Mercyhurst for CREATE and/or AIM Programs.

Speaking of CREATE - our move-in for the CREATE program starts right now! We will be back soon with information about the group and the weeks ahead!