Sarp Gokalp

Student

“I like very much the legal system in the US, and if I can I want to practice law. Not just for disabled people. For everyone.”

Sarp Gokalp came here with his entire family from Turkey in 1987. He remembers well his native country, a place that always feels like home to him. “I miss all my relatives who still live there,” he says. “And I miss the beautiful beaches, and the weather changing and the snow in winter.” Sarp also misses the music he loved to play in Turkey and America: heavy metal is his preference. But his early accomplishments in music have had to take a back seat to another challenge he’s been presented with: muscular dystrophy.

“I played the drums in junior high school,” recalls Sarp. “And when I found out I had MS, I still kept playing, and I want to go back to it. Maybe play a little keyboard too.” Sarp is realistic about his range of movement, however, and plans to branch out with his studies. “But I’m taking Fundamentals of Music now,” he says. “It’s just something I will never let go of.”

Sarp reports that his choice of SMC has a lot to do with the services provided for disabled students. “It’s the best here for people like me,” he says. “They have built the school so that access is pretty good to most places. I think somebody who planned this place did a lot of thinking about how hard it can be to get around in a chair,” he says. And Sarp also has found a welcome source of help in the SMC Center for Students With Disabilities.

“They are very helpful people there,” he says. “They know about my problems and they take the time to talk with me. They’ve provided me some counselors too and they are good because they get me the right classes to take. They are my advisors,” he says. “I trust them to tell me what I need to do.”

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