2nd Annual Career and College Seminar

sponsored by
Colorado Center for the Blind,
2233 W. Shepperd Avenue
Littleton, Colorado 80120

Tuesday April 17, 2018

9:00 am registration 10:00 am program begins
Lunch will be provided

To reserve your spot, register at the link below or call Monique Melton, Employment Specialist, at 303-778-1130 extension 221.

Morning Sessions:

Keynote Speakers:
Dianne Primavera, CEO of Susan G. Komen, former state legislator, Colorado Division of Vocational Rehabilitation supervisor/counselor and much more.
Judy Mares-Dixon, owner of Mares-Dixon & Associates, has worked in the conflict resolution field since 1986.

Employment Panel:
Scott Labarre, attorney
Petr Kucheryavyy, manager, Charter Communications
Marcus Sands, wood worker and furniture builder

Afternoon Breakout Sessions:

Each participant will choose two sessions to attend from these options:

March 9 will be Movie Night And our next FAST Friday at the Colorado Center for the Blind – our monthly activity for blind youth and their families. We’ll kick the evening off with pizza, then watch the documentary film, “Do You Dream in Color?” It follows four California high school students who are blind as they strive to follow their dreams. 1 hr 14 min with audio description. Popcorn provided. Discussion will follow.

April 13 will be Contact the Astronomy Constellations! we’ll have Arapahoe Community College Astronomy Instructor Jennifer Jones and her students work with us to understand the night sky, stars, constellations and everything! The evening will feature dozens of tactile graphics and 3D representations. The time will be determined, so stay tuned.

Back in January the Colorado Avalanche hosted a “Try Hockey” event for prospective blind hockey players. It featured several blind hockey players from across Canada and the United States and was coordinated by USA Hockey and the Colorado Amateur Hockey Association. Forty-two blind participants, including youth and some, like me, who were much older, took to the ice that day. About half of those participants came from CCB.

You can read more about it in this article, Try-Blind-Hockey Day Another Example of How Hockey is for Everyone.

Matt Wallace graduated from CCB in October of 2016. None of his contemporary students would be at all surprised to hear that Matt is doing color commentary for the Penn Women’s Ice Hockey team broadcasts. Matt loves sports. Matt knows sports. Matt talks sports. And talks and talks sports. Hey, savvy broadcast execs, recognize value and start paying Matt and his partner Sam to talk to your audience about sports. Take a look at this video posted on the Philadelphia Enquirer web site with a news story:

March 1, 2018

Dan Burke

Rebecca’s birthday was Tuesday and she received a special birthday delivery from her mom. It was surely especially welcome since Rebecca has been at CCB for about a month. But really, what mom could forget her daughter’s birthday? The entire center was excited about Rebecca’s birthday. Naturally we sang “Happy Birthday” at announcements, along with “The Dirge”, which only insiders will recognize, but the delivery included mini-cupcakes enough for almost everyone!

On Tuesday both Melissa and J.D. learned at announcements that they were going on their support drops. And happily they made it back in time to get cupcakes!.

We’re delighted this week to have Kirsten Mau here under sleepshades, taking all the usual classes. Kirsten is the new Marketing Director for the National Federation of the Blind, headquartered in Baltimore, but she lives in the Denver area. Typically a telecommuter, she’s been using offices at CCB off and on during home remodeling. This week, however, she commutes to the Center – drives herself – and then dons her sleepshades and grabs her cane.

The purpose of sleepshade training for sighted staff is to give them the sense of how blind people successfully travel, manage information and live the lives we want every day. Kirsten has taken to her training like a champ. She knows our message and believes in blind people.

she’s worked with the NFB in consulting capacities going back several years. A marketing and social media pro, she couldn’t resist a little jab.

After spending much of the day in their chairs, giving their best in various Braille skills as part of the

Braille Challenge, participants in the Metro area competition found goal ball the perfect way to unwind.

It’s the third year we’ve hosted the event for Metro-area kids, which is organized in Colorado by the

Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind. Students scores on reading, writing and more are collected regionally and given rankings, then compared to scores across the country. Eventually, the Braille Institute in Los Angeles will bring the most competitive students there for a final competition.

In the meantime, there’s a little goal ball, some local and regional prizes and pizza for lunch!

Cathy Kudlick, Julie Deden and Anahit LaBarre reunited for dinner last Thursday. Cathy and Anahit, who works in our Senior Services Dept., were students together in 2000 to 2001.

It has been nearly 18 years since Catherine Kudlick first arrived in Littleton as a student at CCB, but the lessons of her training have endured, as she told staff and students in Philosophy Class last Thursday.

Cathy’s blindness is due to Nystagmus and she had never used a cane before she came for training. Still, she counted her travel training as one of the most important classes for her. She told students in frank terms about her internal struggles in that class under sleepshades.

We wanted to bring your attention to a couple of newspaper articles that appeared in November and brought attention to the Center. Both reflect great partnerships that help us ensure that our students can, as our tag line says, learn to “Take Charge with Confidence and Self-reliance!”

The first, from November 5, appeared in the Denver Post’s YourHub. It’s about our neighbor and partner, Angel Concept in downtown Littleton. The article isn’t about the Center, but it features one of our students who has been learning job skills there. For a number of years, we’ve counted on Angel Concept to also mentor one of our summer youth in the “Earn & Learn Program”, helping them gain valuable work experience.

Here’s the article by YourHubs Holly Graham:

Disadvantaged women get a chance to build confidence, learn retail skills at this Littleton boutique