July 2016

Not only did we say good-bye to our 24 summer students in the past week, we also saw the departure of two friends and colleagues who’ve been with us for much of July.

We’ve been excited to host Kimie Beverly as a student for the past three weeks. Kimie is President of the National Federation of the Blind of Nevada and a past NFB Scholarship recipient. Sunday she flies to Baltimore where she starts on Monday working at our National Center for the Blind on legislative initiatives such as the Transitioning to Integrated and Meaningful Employment, or TIME Act.

Americans with disabilities relegated to the injustice and indignity of subminimum wages have a new champion in Kimie Beverly! It’s been great to have you with us Kimie!

This week Jessica Beecham led a workouq for our Tuesday morning Seniors group. It’s part of our partnership with WE Fit Wellness. To stay healthy, we gotta keep moving!

It was a true taste of Philly when Warren served his Mini-meal for fifteen last month.

HIGHLIGHTING the menu were Amorosa Kaiser Rolls flown direct from the bakery in Philly and iced Wawa coffee. And there were other touches, despite the No-choice ‘menu … we'll let Warren and his guests tell you all about it:

Hard to believe our summer programs are coming to an end. Today summer Earn & Learn students are finishing up their 40-hour internships across the Metro area. Not only do they gain valuable work experience – for some it’s their first paid job – but they travel independently to their job sites on foot and by public transportation. Jobs include retail, reception, food service, checking web accessibility, radio production in Boulder, child care and all the chores at a riding stable, among others. 

Saturday, July 16 was our Summer Science Seminar. With 24 summer youth we divided into three groups and rotated between three science activities. Martin strapped on the Go Pro and followed all three groups through their water rocket activity with Jamie Principato, a blind physics student who just finished her Associate’s degree at Arapahoe Community...

Christina, Keaton and Marie are working as interns for our long-time partners, The Right Step this summer. In fact, it’s Marie’s second year in our summer program and working at The Right Step. Their work includes cleaning stalls, cleaning old horse shoes to be reused, cleaning tack and taking care of the horses.

This morning they cleaned tack and then helped put up new Braille labels in the tack room. That’s the subject of this short video.

As an FYI, each horse has its own bag with its very own curry comb and brush, halter, lead rope and hoof pick.

The Right Step is a therapeutic riding program and the first of its kind in the U.S. to have Braille – not just in the tack room, but on the horses’ stalls too!

It’s a rocking week at the Center! After being away at the NFB Convention for two of our Tuesday gardening days, the Tech classes checked things out this week. Japanese eggplant was ready and everyone got a little excited about the peach tree we planted a couple of years ago. It’s the first year it’s big enough to really bear fruit, and it is!

We have a couple of new ITP students. Also, Will is a grad student at UNC and is doing part of his practicum in Orientation and Mobility with us for three weeks. And Alfred D’Agostino, Chair of the Chemistry Department at Notre Dame of Maryland is here this week teaching our students the fundamentals of the Talking Lab Quest from Independence Science and its applications in Chemistry. Dr. D’Agostino has taught college chemistry for more than 20 years.

And then there are the mini-meals and so much more happening this week! Like summer kids canoeing and ITP students rock climbing. In fact, Alfred, a former Boy Scout Troop leader, will join the rock climbers tomorrow!

Then it’s Science Day for Summer on Saturday!

Whew!

We’re back! The 2016 Convention of the National Federation of the Blind, which all staff and students in our Independence Training Program and our summer students attended in Orlando from June 30 to July 5. Everyone flew back last Wednesday.

Summer students and staff had just one day to do laundry, get groceries in their apartments and rest a bit. Then on Friday they went white water rafting on Clear Creek near Idaho Springs, about an hour west of Littleton. Here are a couple of photos from the trip …