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Preparing Disabled Students to Succeed After High School

Tabitha Strickland
Mike Switzer/SC Public Radio

South Carolina has roughly 100,000 students with disabilities who are being assisted under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).  Our next guest says that while the majority of these kids are able to earn a state high school diploma, those that fall short are still deserving of recognition that will help them enter the workforce.  Which is why she went to work to help create and implement a new program to assist these students in acquiring the necessary skills to be successful after high school.

Mike Switzer interviews Tabitha Strickland with the South Carolina Department of Education, creators of the South Carolina High School Credential.

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After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.