the building, junior high were towards the front and east side of the building. The basement was the storage cellar which was later modernized into a functional basement with an art room towards the back.
There was a large open field in the back where there was a parking lot for the faculty to park their cars and it was a beautiful piece of property in the fall because the leaves would be so pretty and colorful and just fun to play in. There was a leaf raking contest every year until Cove relocated to 520 N. Glendale Ave. in Winnetka just 20 minutes north of Evanston in 1986.It was neat because all the grades would get together and just have fun to see who had the biggest pile of
leaves and usually there was a prize for the group with the most leaves. Dr. Theodore Kolesnik was the officiator of the contest since he was the principal at the time I was there. Dr. Rogan's office was the biggest one in the rear which was one of the lower floor master bedrooms. Since much of the office area was actually the living room and the study to the right as you came in the main door of the house. This was probably one of the most unusual of setups for a school inside of a mansion. It's amazing I even remember this much about Cove's past, but it's now been converted to condos and apartments, but I still
every now and then go back to Evanston to see the old house and remember where my educational humble beginnings started at. In the years since leaving Cove I've began a journey of locating old classmates I had attended Cove with who had come and gone and seeing how they're doing all these years.
Cove was and still is a second home to me because I found my sense of identity in an environment that allowed me to grow as a person at my own pace and to begin to learn that I am still a person who has a
learning disability except I am one of the lucky ones who knew Dr. Rogan and to be one of “Laura's Kids”. Being one of “Laura's Kids” was a privilege and an honor because Cove was what you called the “Harvard
University of the Learning Disabled World”. It wasn't cheap, but the cost was so worth it because it was an investment into giving a learning disabled child a chance at a real education that's tailored to their needs in an environment with teachers who are well trained in their field who are dedicated to their career as educators and love what they do.
So any child out there with a learning disability remember this, you are not alone because there are so many of us out here who are in fact graduating from college and graduate school and establishing ourselves incareers and whatever we decide to go into. Your life has a lot of meaning and anyone who tells a child or the parent of a child with a learning disability has no idea the damage you cause, but you'll see the end result when they are successful.
It wasn't until I was diagnosed that they told my mother I would have to be institutionalized, yet apparently they were wrong because I can sit here to this day and write this article as a tribute to those who rose above the ignorance and the cruelty for being something they could not help. My inspiration for knowing a learning disability couldn't hold me back was my late grandfather who was blind, but through his sickness he never gave up telling me things out of wisdom or his ability to help me learn something new and I learned a lot from him when I was the eyes that guided his way. It was my success and accomplishments that made him proud of me and had he still been living he would be even more proud of me of what I made of myself today.
I can say that since I had been through the fire with the challenges and the issues that many children with learning disabilities, but in the end I proved those who doubted me wrong by graduating college with two degrees and 3 honor society nominations, going for a professional certification as a licensed massage therapist. Looking back at what Helen Keller had to go through to now she paved the way for special needs students to have a chance in the world since she would have been happy to know that the laws changed to benefit those who have learning disabilities and physical handicaps. Keller's persistence to learn in a time where special needs was treated as a retardation when Helen was born a normal child and she wasn't mentally retarded by any means.
