Feature Issue on Employment and IDD

Sadie’s self-portrait.

I’m a creative person, and art is one of my passions. Education is another, and I was a camp counselor for a long time at a Jewish day camp, where I had also been a camper when I was younger. We did a lot of activities that related to being Jewish, but also did art activities there. So, I’ve been doing art and working with kids for a long time.

I once wrote and illustrated a book about my brother winning a baseball game. It was just this little memory, but he loved it. In high school, I took a lot of art classes, and that kind of got me into doing more realistic kind of paintings and drawings. There's some stuff I'm still struggling to figure out how to get better at, like drawing noses. Noses are not easy, but I keep trying to make them more realistic.

When I was getting ready to graduate high school, I thought about doing a gap year, but then I decided to just jump right in and get it over with! Having grown up mostly in Milwaukee, I was a little nervous at first about being away from home because I wasn’t able to see my parents that much. After meeting new friends and a lot of people, I slowly started to feel, ‘Oh, this is nothing!’ and was fine with being on my own. Today I live in an apartment but may live with my boyfriend in the future.

Sadie Loduha paints a canvas.

I came to Edgewood because I wanted to learn new skills to help me become more independent, and the program was really, really helpful. I did a customized certificate in arts and education. During junior year, I started doing practicums, including one at an art center and another at a private school. Getting that certificate was exciting.

Now I’m at the Waisman Center, working afternoons with 2- and 3-year-olds as an assistant teacher. Next I’ll be working with students who are a little older, and I’ll get to continue working with a co-worker who I really like. I help in the classroom with monitoring students during naptime, getting snacks together, assisting at recess, and whatever is needed. I really like the work. Probably one of the best things is when it’s a teacher’s birthday, because they’ll bring in treats. We also have dress-up days for different celebrations. Waisman is an inclusive early childhood program, so there are students there with and without disabilities. It’s a mix. I wasn’t hugely comfortable at first with all the tasks that go along with working with really young kids, but I’m slowly getting more confident with it.

I’ve also hung out a few times with a co-worker who is also into art, so that’s been really nice, and I’ve done some art projects with the students at school and would like to do more.

For a while I thought about becoming a hair stylist, which is also a creative field, but once I did the practicums during college, I realized that I could combine my love of art with the education certificate and do more of what I love.