January 2017

Ryan admits he was pretty happy to be wearing sleepshades as he chopped the 18 onions it took to make his French onion soup. He is also now excited about cooking something other than “meat” since he came to the Center.

Shrimp and French bread … Brittany is cool and in charge of her mini-meal for 15!

Trevor has a degree in Physics, is a bit of an inventor, more than just a dabbler in the maker movement, and he takes his tinkerer’s inclinations to the kitchen. “How does?” and “What if?” are part of what makes us human, so they are naturally encouraged in our training program.

Yes, we’re pleased and excite to be the host site for the Braille Challenge for 2017! Fifteen Metro-area students ages 6 to 17 are here to demostrate their skils in reading, writing and more using Braille. It’s our third year to host the Metro Challenge, which is sponsored by the Braille Institute of America and coordinated in Colorado by the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind. Last week, students in Colorado Springs met the Braille Challenge as well.

This afternoon the State Rehabilitation Council met at the Center. The SRC is required of each state’s Vocational Rehabilitation program, and includes members from across the state representing many disabilities.

Where were all our students, you may well ask. They were displaced today, working in all their classes from our McGeorge Mountain Terrace Apartments.

The first-ever meeting of a new Tactile Art Club will meet at CCB from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, January 17. It will be held monthly on the third Tuesday of each month.

Our long-time collaborator and art instructor, Ann Cunningham, CCB alum Jenny Callahan and CCB Tech Instructor Yolanda Thompson hatched the idea, inspired in part by the first-ever NFB Tactile Art and Tactile Graphics Symposium held at the National Center for the Blind in Baltimore last December.

“The idea is to grow a community around the idea of access to tactile art and tactile graphics,” Says Ann.

Kimberley was indeed surprised when Tom and Linda Anderson showed up at the Center today all the way from Kansas. They’re in town for her retirement party tonight. It was a little tricky keeping it a secret … Tom and Linda’s coming, not the party.

Planning, preparing and serving a three-recipe meal to 15 people is no small matter. Jackson admits at one point he was getting nervous, but he tried to treat the process as a “regular day in class”. He definitely had it going on with his mini-meal!

Unheard of, we know. But our 2016 summer students gained so much confidence they decided to spoof their summer counselors and Brent in an imagined staff meeting. Shockingly accurate …

Classes started today for 2017, and on top of that it’s Tuesday – meaning that Seniors came in to the Center as well! After two weeks off folks were pretty happy to be back in spite of a bit of cold weather! Here is a collection of sights and sounds from the day, and here’s to taking charge with confidence in 2017!

In 2016 31 CCB students received their Freedom Bell – the symbol that they completed all the requirements to graduate from the Center. As we start classes again on Tuesday, January 3, let’s wish our students of 2017 the same success and the confidence to take charge with self-reliance so that they can live the lives they want to live!