Randy is a student at United Cerebral Palsy (UCP).  He was born with Cerebral Palsy and Muscular Dystrophy in Chowchilla, California.  He moved back home to be closer to UCP.

Randy started at UCP when he was 21. He is now 44 years old. He comes to UCP five days a week.   He rides the E.O.C bus and is on the bus for an hour and fifteen minutes each way.

Randy comes to UCP in the morning and waits for class to start at 9am.  He has class until 11am, and then he has lunch with the other students in the Board Room. After lunch he has another class until 1:50pm. He likes the staff at UCP. He said that the staff members are a lot of fun. He likes Margaret, Scott, and Isaac because they are helpful.  He also likes to talk to Paul, Adam, and Marsha.

Randy has taken many classes at UCP including in the Computer Lab, the Art Room, the North Wing, the Performing Arts area, the kitchen, and the Board Room.  Computer art, computer games, making key chains with Zeke, e-mail class, baking class with Val and Chany, and I-pad class, with Sam and John, are some of the classes Randy likes best.

Randy does his work on the computer at UCP and on his computer at home using the on-screen keyboard. This was how he answered the questions for this article.  Randy remarked, "UCP is a good place to visit with friends and to do your duties at the same time, like cleaning up after yourself."  Also, he thinks what he does at UCP helps him at home.

He has liked every event UCP has done.  He has danced in his power wheelchair and performed in the shows at Christmas.  For the Christmas show one year, Paul, Adam and Randy were called The Power Tools when they danced in their wheelchairs.

Linda Foster, a board member at UCP, had the following thoughts about Randy:

"I have known Randy for a few years now. I spent some time helping out at UCP and I got to know him even better while I was there. He is naturally outgoing, friendly, and truly engaging and interested in the people around him.. He loves to write to friends, including me, on Facebook and by e-mail. I chatted with him when I visited at UCP’s Camp Mountain High a couple of years ago. He and the other students have a great time every year at camp.

"Randy will patiently explain something to me, even though it takes a great deal of energy to repeat himself and make himself heard and understood. I remember when he showed me how he opens and closes the zippers on his notebook or book-bag to keep everything secure. It isn’t that easy for him to do, but he still likes to demonstrate how he does it. He radiates a love of life, perseverance, a can-do attitude, and a lot of charm. I certainly was charmed by him when I first met him and I still am.  I am definitely a fan of Randy."

Jeff Snyder, the Executive Director of UCP, is another fan of Randy and had this to say about him:

"I have known Randy since he first came to UCP in the early 1990s.  He is bright, usually full of energy, always strong in his opinions and a real disciple of technology.  Computers provide a major portion of his social network and he has e-mail friends literally around the world. 

"Personally, I have carried Randy with me - at least in my heart - for many years.  Here's what I mean.  Randy has been one of the UCP Mountain High Campers every year since he came to UCP.  In 1995 or 1996, Randy created a picture for me at Camp Mountain High.  He used green tissue, pine cone bits, one central wild flower and additional flower petals.  When he returned from camp, one of our staff members helped him get his incredible piece of art framed and he proudly presented it to me.  I have treasured it since that time and it has been displayed in every office I've had since then and I've told people up and down the state about Randy, the camper artist, who created it. 

"When I returned to UCP in May of 2010, Randy's camp art came with me.  Come by some time and let me show it to you.  And if you haven't already met Randy in person, please come by UCP and meet him too.  You'll want to carry him around in your heart just as I do!"