AIM Program at Mercyhurst University

09/08/2026

Attention families of current AIM students and AIM Alumni - are you registered for our upcoming Homecoming & Family Weekend event? If not, what are you waiting for? It's always a good time catching up with familiar faces, meeting new people, and of course enjoying some delicious food! There's no charge - we just ask for registration so we order enough food! Visit https://www.mercyhurst.edu/homecoming to register for all the amazing weekend activities as we celebrate Mercyhurst's big 100th birthday!

09/04/2026

time! Each Friday we will feature a person, program, project, etc., that is a key component to our AIM Family.

Today we feature our wonderful friends at Mercyhurst Dining - one of our amazing on-campus partners. The fine folks here not only do a great job each and every day feeding campus - they constantly go above and beyond in support of our neurodivergent learners. Whether it is navigating the dining options, talking about dietary restrictions, hosting appreciation events, and of course the legendary Chopped events each summer - we simply cannot say enough good things about this group. We gave them one of our annual awards back in May 2025 - but they continue to deliver the goods (and beautiful cookies!)

Who has a favorite item from the Grotto or 501 Grill? Ryan will start - Chef Art's "Make it Hot" events - last year's mapo tofu was my favorite!

Thanks to all! Now let's go to lunch. ☘

09/03/2026

We are just a couple of weeks away from our first virtual information session of the year being held Sept. 16 at 7 pm EST. This is a great chance for students and families interested in our programming to sit back and learn about our summer, dual enrollment, and AIM Programs, the application process, costs, and have all your questions answered! Register today at https://mhur.st/aim-info or contact us at [email protected]!

08/28/2026

time! Each Friday we will feature a person, program, project, etc., that is a key component to our AIM Family.

Today we feature Maddie Huffer, the newest member to join our AIM Staff. Maddie is serving as a Graduate Assistant this year with AIM. She's in year two of her Master's in Organizational Leadership. Maddie was a member of the field hockey team here at Mercyhurst, and is a native of Macungie, Pa.

In addition to her vast knowledge of Mercyhurst, Maddie also brings valuable insight to our Career Path programming, as for much of the past year she was an intern in the Human Resources Department at Country Fair (working closely with a couple of Mercyhurst grads Steve and Jessica!). In that role Maddie was involved in resume review, background checks, and much more - a valuable extra set of eyes to help review student resumes! Maddie will also help with a variety other AIM Programming including Full Spectrum Fitness, pickleball, and more!

Welcome Maddie - we are thrilled to have you join us!

08/27/2026

Lots of new followers lately here on this page (welcome!) -- if you haven't already, be sure to check our the Neurodiversity & Higher Education Podcast page as well. We just dropped the link to a brand new episode kicking off our second season!

Feedback welcomed at [email protected] or please rate and review using your platform of choice!

Episode • Neurodiversity and Higher Education

08/25/2026

A special shout-out to the 12 juniors/seniors who participated in AIM Career Week earlier this month. These students gave up their last week of summer break to move in early and spend the week focused on career readiness activities. They participated in presentations, workshops, went shopping for business attire, attended a networking reception, two rounds of mock interviews, visited a potential employer, and more. We know they were pushed a bit beyond their comfort levels, but collectively they did a great job building new skills and gaining valuable experience along the way.

Special thanks to the many folks who helped make this week possible, including the kind folks at Macy's, local professionals who joined for our networking and mock interview sessions, Liz Green from Consulting, , , and our wonderful AIM staff for all their hard work. Extra hat tip to Allison Metzcar, associate director of AIM, who leads this effort and assembled a really great schedule of activities.

Can't wait until next year!

08/24/2026

We are less than a month away from Homecoming & Family Weekend! And this won't be just any ordinary Homecoming - it's a big one as we celebrate our Centennial. AIM alumni and families are invited to join us for our annual gathering. You can visit https://www.mercyhurst.edu/homecoming to see all the details and register for the event. Our gathering is free - but we really appreciate advance registration to help with food count! Questions can be directed to Ryan at [email protected] -- see you then! ☘

08/21/2026

time! Each Friday we will feature a person, program, project, etc., that is a key component to our AIM Family.

Today we feature Gus the campus therapy dog! Gus joined the Mercyhurst family last academic year, and we love when he joins our programming. Gus's human is Sue Sweeney, the director of campus health and wellbeing here at the Hurst. Sue is great, and we certainly think Gus helps our wellbeing :-)

Students can keep up with Gus (and other important topics) on Instagram at !

Anyone else willing to share a pic with Gus? ☘

08/19/2026

Happy First Day of Classes! Today marks the first day of our 100th year of educating students at Mercyhurst! We're excited to celebrate our centennial all year long - next time you visit campus be sure to check out the incredible timeline running down the hall of Old Main - including a special acknowledgement of Brad McGarry and his contributions to our program!

Any words of advice for our students as we get the year underway?

08/14/2026

A special welcome to what we believe is our largest AIM freshman class ever! We are thrilled to welcome students from 10 different states and a really great group of students from Erie County as well! Our freshmen have spent this week participating in AIM Orientation, Laker Launch Day, and enjoyed some bowling last night with juniors/seniors participating in AIM Career Week. They've been busy and have a full schedule of events with all other freshman until classes begin on Wednesday.

We also loved having AIM Families with us for a couple of days - we host a day full of information sessions for families as they go through this time of transition for their family and their student. We also included a guest presenter, Elizabeth Green, OT, to who gave a wonderful presentation titled "From Support at Home to Support on Campus."

Welcome home, and Carpe Diem!