VSA Texas Unsung Hero of the Week: Elizabeth "Libby" Geisinger!

Hello Friends,

I am going to celebrate our first unsung VSA Texas hero, Elizabeth “Libby” Geisinger, 2014 Girl Scout Gold Award recipient. Two years ago Libby asked for my advice on her plan to create a series of murals for the portable classrooms at Rosedale School, a campus in Austin that exclusively serves students with multiple disabilities. She presented me with a wonderfully ambitious plan. However, a bond election eliminated the portables at Rosedale, so Libby brainstormed ideas of how to combine her commitment to creating a multi-sensory experience for students at Rosedale with a limited amount of available wall space. Her solution? Build a large, portable, interactive, sensory wooden cube (station) that represents the four seasons.

Libby in the midst of building!

 With help from friends, Libby built and painted the cube and attached items such as pom-poms, pop tops, stars, and multiple plastic animals to complete the sensory experience. The scenes include a water environment, a meadow, a farm, and outer space. Libby reports, “With the use of this portable, sensory mural box, the students can become more independent and enhance their senses. The teachers can create lesson plans that incorporate the sensory station such as telling a story or focusing on helping a student in specific areas that that student needs, such as identifying key items on the station. This station will serve the current community at Rosedale and the future generations to come.” Along with this station, Libby created a Pinterest board on “Adaptive Learning” that instructs how to create other sensory enriched situations and environments for students with disabilities.

The finished product!

Interacting with the sensory station!

Brava Libby for your vision, your tenacity, your dedication, your hard work and your 2014 Girl Scout Gold Award!  The world is a better place because of young women like you.  

Stay tuned for our next VSA Texas unsung hero.  It just may be you!  Until then, enjoy your holiday, whichever you celebrate, and make your resolutions for the new year. 

Find Libby's Pinterest here:  https://www.pinterest.com/igloo459/adaptive-learning/