ST. LOUIS — For the people in this room, today is all about tomorrow.
A handful of students are spending the day at Riot Games, a hugely successful video-game company in St. Louis.
The students get this opportunity as part of a program called Dream Big.
"It allows people who are different to get a feel for what they want to be in life," 17-year-old Jimmy Fiudo said.
Dream Big is put on by the Starkloff Disability Institute for college and career-bound high school students.
The Institute was started by the late Max Starkloff and his wife Colleen after growing frustrated with a lack of access for people with disabilities.
"80 percent of people with disabilities of working age are not in the workforce," said Colleen Starkloff of the Institute.
But what if instead of disability, the focus became possibility?
"What if you dreamed big and you found that you could be a financial planner, you could be a lawyer, you could be in communications, you could be a TV anchor?" asked Starkloff.
If the students are looking for a role model, they need look no further than the program coordinator Sarah Schwegel.
You may remember Sarah as the National Goodwill Ambassador for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
We've been following her journey ever since she was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy
"I think there was a point in my life when I looked at my mom and I said, I'm not really disabled. I just use a wheelchair," she said.
Now 24, she recently got her Masters in Public Administration at St. Louis University.
And she said there is a big fallacy when it comes to people with disabilities.
"I think that we can't work. You know that is just not accurate," she said.
So all week, the students got a backstage pass to work environments like Express Scripts and Bi-State Development.
"I think this program really helps students to be able to have more of an open mind and to be able to explore," said Annie Donnell who is a college junior and blind.
Disabled doesn't mean less-abled.
"It brings me so much joy to help other students become successful and have a future," Schwegel said.
The goal for these students is the same as any student. To live productive, independent lives.
"It was Max's dream and it's mine too," an emotional Starkloff said.
Dream Big. A summer program opening minds and doors.
