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Meet Your Neighbor: Jennifer Rogers
By Callie Thomas
“Time is a wheel in constant motion, always rolling us along.
Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone. And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance….”
– Martina McBride
We’ve all heard it before; live life every day as if it were the last. It’s not always easy to remember as the challenges of the day ensue and responsibilities pile up in an unending heap. Thankfully, we do get reminded from time to time, particularly when an ordinary person lives their life extraordinarily and makes an indelible mark on those around them. That reminder comes in the form of 89148 resident Jennifer Rogers.
The three and a half year resident is a special education teacher at Faiss Middle School where she teaches English Language Arts. That in and of itself would seem to be a selfless career choice, but Jennifer has gone beyond the day to day to nudge along programs that have far reaching affects for those students with special needs as well as create a motivated student body that is eager to assist their fellow classmates. “I began the Best Buddies program at our school,” says Rogers. The Best Buddies program pairs up a student with a disability (buddy) with another student without a disability (peer buddy) based upon interest, hobbies and personality. While the program had been around for many years, and was originally founded internationally in 1989 by Anthony Kennedy Shriver, it had not been implemented at Faiss Middle School. The result of the collaborations not only benefits those with disabilities, but has created a “pay it forward” mentality for those without disabilities.
Rogers also coaches cheerleading at her school for basketball. The cheerleading and Best Buddy program have seemed to meld into one. “Our cheerleaders come to all of our charity events off campus to cheer for the Best Buddies Program,” Rogers said. “Many of our cheerleaders are peer buddies also. There have been so many students interested in the program that I have associate members to help out at the events.” Some of these events include the Santa Run at Town Square, Festival of Friendship at the District, and the group will be joining the Youth Global Service Day to fix up the Explore Knowledge Academy. “We are also planning a fashion show with Patty’s Closet on June 27 to raise money for our program. Our buddy pairs will be walking down the runway, and hopefully it will raise awareness to spectators.”
Jenny keeps her dance card full on a regular basis because she is also integrally involved with the Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HD). Jenny was diagnosed with the genetic disease last summer. “There is no cure for this disease, so I have been raising money for research since I was about 21 years old. I also joined clinical studies so that they could use me as their guinea pig to test brain activity and possible treatments. I want to be a part of finding a cure for HD so that the next generation does not have to deal with this disease,” she said. Jenny also filmed a documentary, which is on YouTube, about her childhood and the disease.
Jenny Rogers wakes up every day with a mission. She is in the process of earning her Ph.D. in clinical psychology so that she can open up a practice to continue working with children. She wants to be a part of finding the HD cure and support HD patients in Vegas. Every day she looks forward to seeing the smiling faces of her students and offers this advice: “Make the best of the time you have in this world and put a permanent stamp on someone’s heart. Live life from your heart, share from your heart, and your story will touch and heal people’s souls.”
