“I hope that [students] will be able to walk up to the people who work in Stevie and Dascomb and say, ‘Hi,’” said Taylor Bibat, a College senior and leader of Murray Ridge Oberlin College Alliance. This organization is devoted to bringing Oberlin students together with the Murray Ridge Center’s clients, who have developmental disabilities such as autism and mental retardation. Many clients work with Oberlin’s Campus Dining Services.

MROCA hosted its first big event on Friday, bringing Murray Ridge clients to Oberlin’s Science Center for a dance and craft party.

“The residents that are into dancing got right on their feet right when they got there,” said Bibat. “All the students who came were pleasantly surprised at the experience. Most people don’t even know what Murray Ridge is.”

Murray Ridge is the main center of the Lorain County Board of Mental Retardation and Development Disabilities. “They offer services for people from birth to death who qualify,” said Bibat. These services include a school for clients under 21, workshops where clients can have a job, habilitation clinics and group homes. There are two Murray Ridge group homes in Oberlin, one on E. Lorain and one on S. Professor.

Though students have long worked with Murray Ridge, members of MROCA hope to provide a firm link between the two communities.

“The first thing we’re trying to do is get people some exposure to Murray Ridge, to volunteer there and do their own projects there,” said College sophomore Kyle Taljan, who was a leader in organizing the dance.

So far, MROCA projects have included weekly guitar lessons at the Murray Ridge School, performances by OSTEEL and the OC Marching Band and tie-dying t-shirts. According to MROCA leaders, there will be more events next year once the organization has been chartered.

“We hope that eventually [MROCA] will be open to a lot of students to the population. The two communities are right next to each other but the Oberlin students don’t know what’s going on,” said Bibat, who also said she hoped to see a greater connection between the Oberlin administration and Murray Ridge.

Though officials at Murray Ridge were unable to comment, psychology professor Karen Sutton, who advises the psychology department’s Practicum in Autism, said she thought interacting with students would be helpful to residents.

“The literature suggests that the more normalizing experiences you expose people to, the more normal they are going to be,” Sutton explained.

Taljan found the program just as beneficial to college students. “It’s been enjoyable to see, to interact… it’s good to meet people on their own terms.”

Meeting on their own terms was exactly what happened at Friday’s dance.

“It was just such a fun party,” said Bibat. “It was just a bunch of people in a room having a good time and just being themselves, with no pressure. It was really a blast.”