Marissa Griffin


Everyone participating in DOIT has some kind of disability, so we all feel a sense of equality and that no one will judge us. DOIT has helped me achieve things I would have never gotten the chance to experience without it.

I first joined the Disabilities, Opportunities, Internet-working and Technology Program (DOIT) in 1998 during my junior year of high school. My geometry teacher told me that a group of people were making a video for the DOIT Program to show how students and teachers in the math and science fields should accommodate fellow students with disabilities. She recommended me as a subject for the video and within a few weeks a camera crew was following me around my high school filming me. The video was shown to a group of math and science teachers, and I spoke on a panel before the video with five or six other panelists with varying disabilities. Immediately after the panel, a DOIT staff member pulled me aside, said I looked like a good candidate for the program and asked if I was interested in participating. I said yes.

DOIT has become my second home and has definitely changed my life for the better. Without DOIT I never would have met the people I’m friends with today. It gave me a chance to experience what college would be like while I was still in high school: sleeping in a dorm, keeping my own schedule, going to lectures, engaging in hands-on activities like dissecting a sheep’s heart, and having fun seeing a Mariner’s game or visiting the Museum of Flight.

DOIT helped me become a better advocate for myself. I’m not afraid to ask for help so that I can get certain accommodations that allow me to live as normal a life as possible with my disability and accomplish what I need to, whether it be for school or work.  That might include getting extra time on tests or assistance with the fill-in-the-bubble SCANTRON tests. At work, I was able to get a computer monitor on a swiveling arm and a phone with a headset so I can take phone messages more easily.

Everyone participating in DOIT has some kind of disability, so we all feel a sense of equality and that no one will judge us.  DOIT has helped me achieve things I would have never gotten the chance to experience without it.  They helped me get internships with Amazon.com and later with the Federal Aviation Administration, where I now work.  DOIT’s mission is to help people with disabilities succeed in life and fulfill their dreams, no matter how big those dreams are!

Today, in addition to working full time for the Federal Aviation Administrator as an Office Administrator, I serve as an ambassador for the DOIT Program.

America's Afterschool Storybook tells the stories of people and communities transformed by afterschool programs.


The Afterschool Alliance launched the Storybook to help commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers, the only federal initiative dedicated to supporting community afterschool programs.


Search by State:


Search by Subject:









For more information, email info@afterschoolalliance.org


Press Contact:

Gretchen Wright
202.371.1999
gretchen@prsolutionsdc.com