Baker College 'Real Women' event features women who overcame tremendous odds

ALLEN PARK, Mich. – Baker College of Allen Park is presenting “Real Women Never Give Up” in celebration of Women’s History Month. The 2014 honoree and featured speaker is Erica Coulston, co-founder and president of Walk the Line to SCI Recovery. A Baker College student will also share the story of her 22-year pursuit to obtain her educational goals despite personal tragedy, and The Carr Center will present an exhibit of works by female artists who live in the Detroit area.

The event is 9:30-11 a.m., Thursday, March 27, in the Student Center. Breakfast will be available. Admission is a suggested $5 donation at the door that will go to the National Spinal Cord Injury Association. Reservations are encouraged. Call 313.425.3729 by Wednesday, March 19.

Walk the Line is recognized as a world leader for innovative individualized exercise and physical therapy-based spinal cord injury recovery programs that utilize emerging techniques and research from around the globe.

Coulston helped found Walk the Line in 2007, six years after she sustained a spinal cord injury at age 23. A car accident left her paralyzed from the chest down with restricted use of her arms and hands. She achieved limited recovery through intense physical therapy programs in the U.S. and abroad and an adult stem cell transplant in Portugal in 2003.

Coulston is an employer partner of Baker’s associate degree program for physical therapist assistant.

Baker College of Allen Park student Pamela DiCicco, of Newport, Mich., began her educational journey in 1992 at a community college as a single mother of two daughters. It was interrupted by two cancer diagnoses and the loss of one of her daughters, but with support of her family and an academic counselor at Baker College, her dream will be realized this year when she completes a bachelor’s degree in health services management.

“Erica and the other women who will be featured at this event are truly real women who don’t give up,” said Yvonne Langley, vice president for career services for Baker College of Allen Park. “Erica continues to focus on creating the best recovery facility in the world, Pamela is well on her way to realizing her dream of becoming an administrator of a nursing home or rehab center, and our featured female artists have seen beauty where others haven’t. We’re looking forward to this event that honors a month dedicated to informing the public about women’s lives.”

For more information about this event, contact the Baker College of Allen Park at 313.425.3729.

The largest private college in Michigan, Baker College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. It is a nonprofit higher education institution, serving more than 35,000 students on 12 campuses and in three satellite locations. Baker grants certificates and associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business, health sciences, education and human services, and various technical fields, as well as a doctorate of business administration. As a career college, the Baker College system is pleased to report that 97 percent of its available graduates are employed. For more information about Baker College, please check out our website at www.baker.edu.