Starkloff Disability Institute Alumna is Heading for New Job in China

A few years ago, Laura Merleau-McGrady never imagined that she would visit China. Today, the alumna of Starkloff Disability Institute’s “Next Big Step” program is planning a new life as a teacher at a high school near Hong Kong.

“I am planning to go as soon as my visa and other work papers go through,” says Laura, a resident of Waterloo, Illinois, outside St. Louis. Since 2005, she has suffered from fibromyalgia, a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues. She is also bipolar.

Laura’s condition didn’t keep her from earning a Ph.D. in American Literature, with an emphasis in creative writing, at the University of Kansas in 2000. Yet she couldn’t find steady employment. For years, she worked as a freelance editor, proofreader and tutor. She also wrote and taught poetry as a freelancer, and taught French classes part-time.

That all changed when Laura entered Starkloff Disability Instiute’s (SDI) Next Big Step (NBS) program in the autumn of 2014. The 12-week job-readiness program assists people with disabilities who have enrolled in or graduated from college or a technical institute become more competitive job seekers. SDI offers the program for free to participants.

“It is a great program that was great for me,” says Laura. She credits NBS Program Director Susan Menhard and Employment Specialist Tina Vinson with excellent presentations and coordinating informative guest speakers from human resource departments from local organizations.

“Susan and Tina taught our class a lot about speaking skills and how to present ourselves in a professional manner for job interviews. We also had to develop presentations to make to the class, and we did mock interviews with HR specialists who visited our classes. We visited with HR executives at local companies and organizations as part of the SDI training.”

One of the visiting HR specialists was from Saint Louis University (SLU); she explained the process of applying for university jobs. Laura took her advice and applied for a job teaching English as a Second Language at SLU and was hired. She began teaching English to Chinese, Hispanic and Middle Eastern students in November 2014. That position let to a second job for Laura teaching English in SLU’s College of Arts and Sciences, keeping her very busy and on campus three days a week.

“I absolutely love it,” says Laura. “The students at SLU are very bright, and they come to class every day – if they can’t come to class, they notify me ahead of time by email.”

Not too long after she began her new teaching career at SLU, Laura was offered – and accepted -- a job teaching English at a high school outside Hong Kong. She plans to begin this new chapter in her life later this year. Although she will miss her colleagues and students at SLU, Laura says with a grin, “I’ll be learning to speak Chinese this summer.”

“I hope everyone who participates in Starkloff Disability Institute’s Next Big Step Program gets as much reward out of it as I did in reaching the next chapter in their lives and participating in the job market,” Laura says. “It is a wonderful program, a great experience for all who participate and for the organizations involved. I am very grateful for the opportunities it provides.”

For information about Starkloff Disability Institute contact Lori A. Becker at 314-588-7090 or email lbecker@starkloff.org or see the website http://www.starkloff.org.

***

ur”g

C