Autism Initiative at Mercyhurst University

Happy Monday!! Happy to announce we are again hosting a reception during Homecoming for AIM Alumni and families of current AIM students! We will meet Sept. 19 at 10 a.m. in the Waterford Room in Ryan Hall. Register at the link below - we hope to see you there!

https://www.mercyhurst.edu/alumni/homecoming-2026

We were excited to participate in last week's Disability Resource Fair of NWPA - it was an amazing event!! We had a vendor table to tell folks about all we do, plus we were honored to give a presentation about how to help students with disabilities thrive in college.

Huge kudos to event planners and sponsors - can't wait until next year!

Photo credits: Erica Bickel Photography and Heather Evans

In our third of three recap posts we share photos from our time in Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor. We were blessed with perfect weather, allowing us to soak in ALL the views from Acadia. We learned a great deal about Acadia's diverse ecosystem, enjoying mountain views and swimming on a beach all in the span of a couple hours. (Kudos to those who swam - water temp that day was 48 degrees!)

The following day we saw all Bar Harbor has to offer through a walking tour led by our knowledgeable guide and Bar Harbor native Charlie. Everyone got some free time to pursue Bar Harbor's many stores, coffee shops, and many found a dessert as well. We enjoyed an amazing final dinner at Able's - dining on lobster caught from the adjacent waters and a perfect evening of weather. We had our traditional sharing of everyone's favorite activity from the trip - always fun to hear the variety.

An incredible trip! Special thanks to many people - Tacie and Allison from AIM Staff, Lou and Tyler from MT Sobek for their planning support, our guides Kim and Rick from Summerfeet, tour guides Ray, Rich, Charlie, and of course to our students for their willingness to take on this adventure! I for one am sad it's over - but will cherish the memories and look forward to our next adventure! -- Ryan Palm

Our second recap features our time spent in Camden, ME, where we went on a lobster boat tour! Our guide Rich provided a Master's level course in lobstering, and we're happy to report we did catch one lovely lobster. It was highly informative, beautiful scenery, and plenty of bonus wildlife to include a huge bald eagle nest with an eagle keeping watch.

We capped the day by making our way up to Bar Harbor, but snuck in a quick stop at self-serve cheesecake stand called Momo's - it was a big hit.

More tomorrow with our final installment!

Last week seven students and three staff took an adventure to Maine! We're going to share some highlights over the next three days to showcase some of the spots we visited, food we ate, and memories we made!

Our first recap highlights our time in Portland - the largest city in Maine, and as we learned, the city with second highest restaurants per-capita in the country! While in Portland we enjoyed a food tour including chowder, lobster roll, haddock tacos, and for those of age - a few of Portland's local brews! Special thanks to Ray, our excellent tour guide!

We also explored some of the lighthouses in neighboring towns - and as you will notice, we had perfect weather to bask in the beauty of the Atlantic Ocean. Our guides Kim and Rick did a wonderful job leading us to see the beauty and a great pizza lunch dinner as well.

More to come!

P.S. Any guesses what US city (according to our tour guide) has the highest number of restaurants per capita?

Congratulations to all of our graduates! We celebrated with most of them on Thursday with our AIM Graduation Ceremony, and also gave our annual awards. Special congratulations and thank you to the Dianne Rogers Living Legacy Award winner Linda Graves from the Mercyhurst Counseling Center, and to the Dr. Ken Schiff Award winner Richard Sayer from the Art Department. Also special thanks to Soren Thomas who was presented with the AIM Exceptional Intern Award for all of her contributions this past year.

CONGRATULATIONS to our grads, thank you for all you've done for our program, and we simply cannot wait to see where life takes you in your next chapter! Carpe Diem!

We were busy in April! A group of students and staff joined hundreds of fellow supporters for the annual Autism Society - Northwestern Pennsylvania Walk last month. We love partnering with the Autism Society and were proud to not only be a sponsor, but also led amongst all local colleges for most funds raised! Our group was called to the stage to accept the award - note the less than ideal conditions! Special shout out to Michele on our AIM team for being our lead for this event.

After lots of rain the last few years we know they're due for warm temps and sunshine next year!!

We had a wonderful time with five students and three staff at the JP Morgan Chase Student Symposium last month. The JPMC team is incredibly welcoming, and we loved seeing their beautiful facility in Columbus, Ohio. Hearing from neurodivergent employees at JPMC is a very valuable experience for our students and staff! We hope to make additional visits to JPMC and other employers in the coming year - who wants to host us? Let us know at [email protected]!

Good morning! By request we've added one final virtual information session for this school year -- May 6 at 7 p.m. our staff will cover all of our programming - summer programs (still limited space for 2026!), dual enrollment, and our signature AIM Program. Please share this presentation with anyone you think may be interested! Register: https://mhur.st/aim-info or email us at [email protected] with questions!

With the end of April being near, we want to continue celebrating Autism Awareness Month! (Or Autism Acceptance Month...or Autism Appreciation Month...) We like to take this month to appreciate the differences people on the spectrum can have on society and how each person is unique.

Special thanks to Evan for his help on this post!