Pit Crews

Pit Crews are growing and are now located in 12 Lancaster County schools and two community-based settings!  Community members are following the success of this program and you can too.  

• Click here to read a full report on Pit Crews, published in March 2008.

• Read an article about an award-winning Pit Crew, published in the Lancaster New Era on May 9, 2007.

• Read a letter to the editor about the power of acceptance, published in the Ephrata Review on May 8, 2008.

• Read about the success of one Pit Crew at Ephrata Area High School. This school district now has a waiting list for students interested in participating in a Pit Crew!

• Watch a video about the Ephrata Area High School Pit Crew.

• Watch a news report about a Pit Crew Party held for students at Laserdome in April 2008.

Special thanks to the Pit Crew Advisory Board:

• Jason Baker has worked as a school counselor for five years before completing his PhD last year and starting a job as an assistant professor of psychology at Millersville University.  He primarily teaches in the school counseling master’s program.  He has lived in the Lancaster area for only one year, and has been traveling back and forth from his house in Burnham, PA for the past year.  He has also worked in community mental health with both adults and children and worked for six years as a mobile therapist.  I enjoy working with children, and it has been an adjustment this past year as his “children” are all over 18 now!  He completed his bachelor’s degree through Juniata College, his masters through Penn State, and his PhD through Regent University in Virginia Beach.  When not working, Jason enjoys biking, kayaking, and outdoor activities.

• Vicki Bricker, MR Program Specialist II with Lancaster Co. MH/MR/EI believes the principles of self-determination, every-day lives, and community inclusion is the foundation of MR services and supports system.  She continues; Pit Crews are the embodiment of these principles in action.  They build on interests, strengths and maximize the power of the team.  Most importantly, Pit Crews have the ability to change lives and communities in ways ‘services’ never could.  They work!

• Molly Finley comes to the Pit Crew Advisory Board with a plethora of experience in supporting children with special needs, with a primary focus on students with sensory impairments and deaf and hard of hearing.  Her educational achievements are an Ed.D from University of Delaware; Principal Certification from Penn State University; Supervisor Certificate from Millersville University; Master Degree, specifically Deaf/HH Teacher’s College, Columbia University and Bachelor’s Degree from Bloomsburg University.  Positions held by Molly include Supervisor of Special Education, specifically Sensory Impaired and Teacher of Deaf and Hard of Hearing students.  Molly has also served on ERCHL (Educational Resources for Children with Hearing Loss) Advisory committee to the Bureau of Special Education.  Molly currently holds the position of Program Director for Lancaster-Lebanon IU 13 and has been very supportive of and instrumental in Pit Crew development for students receiving services through IU 13.

• Rhiannon Gibersonis the Executive Director of United Support Group, a non profit organization founded in 1989 for the purpose of providing social and recreational activities for people with mental retardation living in Lancaster County.  Rhiannon became interested in the Pit Crews due to their involvement with her organization.  She thinks a support group is very important and creating an age appropriate fun atmosphere for the natural support to form is even more important.  Rhiannon is very excited to see where the committee goes.

• Kristen Riley is the case manager at the Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities (CADD) through Philhaven.  She has work for Philhaven a total of seven years both in the residential and outpatient settings.  Parts of her responsibilities at CADD include integrating families with available services within the community.  When she first heard about the Pit Crews, she could not stop thinking of all the exciting possibilities that would benefit our clients through Pit Crews.  She was also impressed by how far the program has come in such a short time and the excitement and dedication from the people who have been involved.  Kristen looks forward to being part of the Pit Crew Advisory Board and helping out in any way she can.

• Peggy Rosario is Dean of General Education at the Lancaster General College of Nursing and Health Sciences.  Peggy spent three years working in support of children with special needs, through the Department of Health Division of Children’s Special Healthcare Needs and the Special Kids Network. Although she is not directly involved in that line of work right now, it is a cause dear to her heart. As the parent of two elementary-aged boys, she sees the importance of forming friendships with all types of children. As an educator of future healthcare providers, she recognizes that pit crews can build a critical understanding that people are people first. Pit crews are a fun and mutually beneficial opportunity for young people and the more people that can be involved- the better! She looks forward to helping out.

• Sue Summers-Steffy has been working at Ephrata Area School District as the Assistant Coordinator of Student Services for the past two years and for the district the past ten years.  She believes that all kids have the right to be included with their peers.  The Pit Crew gives EASD one more way to help this happen.  It creates a relationship between students that helps foster understanding, responsibility, and community.  Currently EASD has two Pit Crews with two additional crews slated to begin this fall.  Parents in the community have been calling and five students are currently on a waiting list to start crews sometime in the new school year.  Ephrata hopes that Pit Crews will become standard practice in Ephrata in the future.