{"id":11130,"date":"2014-05-01T09:51:34","date_gmt":"2014-05-01T13:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=11130"},"modified":"2014-05-30T16:06:46","modified_gmt":"2014-05-30T20:06:46","slug":"kayla-austin-may-graduate-changing-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2014\/05\/kayla-austin-may-graduate-changing-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Kayla Austin: a May graduate who is changing the world"},"content":{"rendered":"

How do you describe a young woman who goes to Honduras on a mission trip at the age of 19, discovers a starving, disabled, neglected little boy and embraces him as her own, takes him to live with her in Chattanooga, attends classes at UTC while she raises him for the last two years, graduates, and then returns to Honduras to establish a non-profit program to help care for abused women and young mothers?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"UTC<\/a>

UTC student Kayla Austin (sitting) holds Esteven. Katie Wilson, adjunct professor in Non Profit Management, stands behind them.<\/p><\/div>\n

Kayla Austin is genuine, unique, inspirational, compassionate\u2014think of a positive adjective and it applies.<\/p>\n

Her life-changing story began in a steamy village in the Honduran rainforest, a place with dirt roads, mango and coconut trees, and electricity maybe 18 hours a day.\u00a0 Puerto Lempira is the home of the indigenous Miskito Indians.<\/p>\n

While Austin was working at an orphanage and school there in 2012, she decided to visit the home of Nery, a 13-year-old girl who wasn\u2019t attending school regularly.\u00a0 She discovered that Nery\u2019s parents had gone away and left her to care for her six siblings.<\/p>\n

Nery carried one of her brothers two miles to the orphanage the next day. Esteven had cerebral palsy, horrific sores all over his body, warts, bronchitis, and he was severely malnourished. He was nearly 12 years old and weighed only 23 pounds.<\/p>\n

Austin immediately felt a connection and wanted to care for Esteven, though she had never had any experience with a physically disabled child.\u00a0 She bathed him and fed him, and fed him, and fed him.\u00a0 He gained ten pounds in two weeks.\u00a0 And slowly, Austin said, Esteven awoke to a second chance to live.\u00a0 He began to smile and respond to Austin.\u00a0 He mimicked her when she was on the phone, holding a small piece of paper to his ear.\u00a0 She realized there was \u201ca lot going on inside his head.\u201d<\/p>\n

When she left to come back to UTC, it was incredibly difficult to take Esteven back to his family.\u00a0 She promised him she would come back for him.\u00a0 After his father sold the toys and clothing she had purchased for Esteven and bought drugs for himself, Austin decided she had waited long enough.<\/p>\n

She waded through government paperwork and secured a medical visa to bring Esteven to the United States.\u00a0 She went back to Puerto Lempira where Esteven\u2019s mother agreed to legally allow Austin to be the child\u2019s guardian.<\/p>\n

All the care she lined up for him had to be pro bono\u2014no taxpayer money is allowed to be used for a medical visa in the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I took Esteven to the pediatrician, the pediatrician knew someone, and that person knew someone\u2014before I knew it, we had therapists lined up.\u00a0 At least three come to us each week.\u00a0 They are teaching me how to do his therapy and how to continue his progress,\u201d Austin said.<\/p>\n

Austin is a perfect example of a college student who is living in the \u201creal world\u201d and making a difference, according to Dr. Michelle Deardorff, Department Head, Political Science, Public Administration, and Nonprofit Management.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hear people talk about higher education as if students are in state of suspended animation until they graduate; Kayla demonstrates the falseness of that belief,\u201d Deardorff said.<\/p>\n

Austin has been preparing for another ambitious goal ahead.\u00a0 For the last two semesters, Katie Wilson, adjunct professor in Non Profit Management at UTC, has had conversations about Austin\u2019s Project 541<\/a>, the\u00a0501(c)3 nonprofit organization Austin has created to support and empower women and girls of La Moskitia, Honduras.<\/p>\n

\u201cKayla\u2019s experience directly applies to what we were talking about in class,\u201d Wilson explained. \u201cWhat does a board look like for a 501(c)3?\u00a0 How long did it take to receive an application?\u00a0 As Kayla was working through the details, her fellow students learned along with her.\u00a0 Her experience highlights the importance of non-profit work and its unique place in our community.\u00a0 It helps students who are interested in this field to go on and change the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson nominated Austin for the One with Courage Award bestowed by the Children\u2019s Advocacy Center of Hamilton County.<\/p>\n

Deardorff is grateful for committed professionals like Wilson who teach UTC courses.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Wilson\u2019s engagement not only with her profession, but with our students, is demonstrated by her suggestion of Kayla for the award, but more importantly, knowing Kayla well enough to recognize the appropriateness of this nomination,\u201d Deardorff said.<\/p>\n

By the time Austin was selected for the honor, Esteven had learned to communicate with more than 30 signs in sign language, he could feed himself finger foods, dress himself, and he can walk with assistance from a gait trainer.<\/p>\n

Austin\u2019s award celebrated her as an advocate who has the courage to inspire and educate children by offering hope for their future.\u00a0 And Austin herself was well on her way to establishing Project 541<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Austin is glad her parents pushed her to finish her undergraduate degree at UTC. They are very supportive\u2014her father is president of the board for Project 541<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After she graduates on May 3, she and Esteven will return to Honduras on May 16, probably\u00a0permanently, Austin says.\u00a0 She looks ahead to establishing a residential home, a mentoring program for girls housed in orphanages in the community, and a program for young mothers 18 years and younger. She already knows of two 11-year-old girls who are pregnant and need help.<\/p>\n

She will continue to take Esteven to visit with his parents, although they have made it clear they do not expect him to rejoin their family.\u00a0 Austin has noticed that when they go back to visit, the interaction with Esteven\u2019s parents gets better each time.<\/p>\n

Just the other day, Austin asked Esteven \u201cWhat says meow?\u201d\u00a0 She was astounded when he signed \u201ccat.\u201d He can now make more cognitive associations than she imagined he could.<\/p>\n

Austin explained there is a strong connection between Esteven\u2019s life and the lives of girls and young women in Honduras she wants to help, girls who have been sold as sex slaves, girls who have been the victims of incest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about having a second chance.\u00a0 Everyone deserves a second chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more about Project 541.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How do you describe a young woman who goes to Honduras on a mission trip at the age of 19, discovers a starving, disabled, neglected little boy and embraces him as her own, takes him to live with her in Chattanooga, attends classes at UTC while she raises him for the last two years, graduates, and then returns to Honduras to establish a non-profit program to help care for abused women and young mothers?<\/p>\n

Continue Reading <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":11151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_slider":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_featurette":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,8244,8325,661],"tags":[7322],"class_list":{"0":"post-11130","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-college-of-arts-sciences","8":"category-honors-and-awards","9":"category-service","10":"category-students","11":"tag-department-of-political-science","12":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nKayla Austin: a May graduate who is changing the world | UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - 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