Take Charge with Confidence and Self-Reliance

Tag: Arapahoe Community College

  • No Virtual Sharks

    by

    Dan Burke

    Fourth-grader Jax removes the shark liver, which looks a bit like bunny ears.

    Fourth-grader Jax removes the shark liver, which looks a bit like bunny ears.

    Some things just don’t translate to the virtual. (Okay, after nearly two years with Zoom in our lives in a big way, we can say that a lot of things don’t really translate well.) Let’s put our annual shark dissection for blind and low vision students high on that list.

    And we’re not talking about the smell of fishy Formaldehyde down in the gym, though that is also true.

    We missed a year because of COVID concerns in 2021, and you could feel that surge like we are coming back as nearly 30 students participated in this year’s annual shark dissection with Arapahoe Biology Professor Terry Harrison on Monday.… Read the rest “No Virtual Sharks”

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  • College Prep and Falafel @msudenver @ArapahoeCC

    by

    Dan Burke

    Shaun, Davina, Loren, Mikayla and Dan cross at Church and Prince on the way to ACC

    Shaun, Davina, Loren, Mikayla and Dan cross at Church and Prince on the way to ACC

    Over the past couple of weeks, the college prep class has visited local campuses. Our thanks the staff at Metro’s Access Center and Arapahoe CC’s Student Access Services for sharing their time and expertise with us during our recent visits.

    When a blind student leaves high school and goes to college, the world tilts a bit, maybe even seems to wobble slightly on its axis. That’s because the rules change, because the laws governing disability change, and then there’s the part that effects sighted students too. Responsibility shifts more noticeably onto the student’s shoulders than ever before. The sooner students get their feet under them again, the more successful they will be.… Read the rest “College Prep and Falafel @msudenver @ArapahoeCC”

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  • Meanwhile, down in the gym, a dozen blind students were dissecting dog sharks! @ArapahoeCC

    by

    Dan Burke

    Deya and Alma with their Shark

    Deya and Alma examine their Shark

    These Denver high school students, Deya and Alma were two of the dozen middle school to college prep students who experienced all the sensory data of a spiny dog shark when they opened one up today at the Center.

    Well, except for taste.

    Thanks again to Arapahoe Community College’s Biology Professor Terry Harrison for leading these blind students through a meaningful lesson about anatomy – a lesson with the side benefit of learning that vision isn’t the only sense with which to do real science!

    Terry Harrison with the 2019 Shark Dissection Group

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  • Fifth Shared Visions Tactile Art Exhibit May Be Best Yet! #TactileAccess @ArapahoeCC (@artdesignatacc

    by

    Dan Burke

    Jen looks at a tactile painting while Stefanie reads the Braille description

    It may be the best yet! This year’s “Shared Visions” tactile art exhibit at the Colorado Gallery of the Arts at Arrapahoe Community College (ACC) featured even more tactile painting pieces, a series of “boxes” from another class that were in every instance surprising, as well as an installation of an idyllic natural setting,complete with a trickling spring.

    It’s the fifth year that we’ve collaborated with Arapahoe Community College’s Art & Design Center, and the fourth year our students had some of their own work on display.

    The best news is that it’s open till Monday, December 3! In fact, this Friday our Senior Program will be making a pilgrimage to see it.… Read the rest “Fifth Shared Visions Tactile Art Exhibit May Be Best Yet! #TactileAccess @ArapahoeCC (@artdesignatacc”

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  • #FAST Friday to Explore the Stars with @AstronomyatACC

    by

    Dan Burke

    Astronomy Event - Telescope and tactile graphics in front of a star filled night sky

    Astronomy Event - Telescope and tactile graphics in front of a star filled night sky
    Whirling overhead at all times are stars, planets – whole galaxies. Humans have always wondered at them and about them. Blindness is no impediment to curiosity, including in the area of astronomy, nor is their any reason blind people can’t learn much in this field, often thought to be too visual. Some have even become astronomers themselves.

    So, with the help of Arapahoe Community College Astronomy Coordinator and Instructor Jennifer Jones this month’s FAST (Fun Activities and Skills Training) Friday program for blind youth will teach about the stars with tactile graphics of constellations, 3D printings of telescopes and, finally, a trip outside to see what is in Friday night’s sky.… Read the rest “#FAST Friday to Explore the Stars with @AstronomyatACC”

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  • Reminder: FAST Friday Fast Approaching!

    by

    Dan Burke

    Do You Dream in Color? Poster

    Do You Dream in Color? PosterMarch 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.

    Watch the trailer for “Do You Dream in Color?”

    April 13 will be Contact theAstronomy
    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!… Read the rest “Reminder: FAST Friday Fast Approaching!”

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  • A Peek at Hands-on with the “Shared Visions” 2017 Exhibit @ArapahoeCC #TactileAccess

    by

    Dan Burke

    Adia, Mason M. and Cezar look at the Old Man Wincing while Ravi reads the Braille description

    Adia, Mason M. and Cezar look at the Old Man Wincing while Ravi reads the description provided in Braille

    Here are a few photos from the Shared Visions reception at the Colorado Gallery of the Arts at Arapahoe Community College on Thursday night. Everyone got hands on with pieces from Nathan Abels’ painting and drawing classes. CCB students also had laser-cuts of drawings they made in Ann Cunningham’s art class with accompanying Haiku, and CCB alum Jenny Callahan had a number of stone carvings and a bronze in the show. The Seniors art class had bowls thrown on the wheel in Katie Caron’s ceramics studio. Katie brought her daughter, who insisted on wearing sleepshades so she could try to identify the art tactilely.… Read the rest “A Peek at Hands-on with the “Shared Visions” 2017 Exhibit @ArapahoeCC #TactileAccess”

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  • Shared Visions #TactileArt Exhibit Opens Nov. 9: @ArapahoeCC @ArtACunningham

    by

    Dan Burke

    CCB students take turns exploring numerous tactile art pieces on the walls

    CCB students take turns exploring numerous tactile art pieces on the walls

    Editor’s Note: Here’s the announcement from ACC for this year’s “Shared Visions” tactile art exhibit. It’s the fourth year we collaborated on this event, and a highlight of the fall for our students and staff. The show will include work by CCB students and perhaps from one or two staff members as well. Worth checking out!(Photos by Mike Thompson.)

    Arapahoe Community College to host Shared Visions tactile art exhibit

    LITTLETON, Colo. (Oct. 24, 2017) – Students from Arapahoe Community College and the Colorado Center for the Blind will present a collaborative and fully-accessible exhibit of multi-sensory and tactile art entitled “Shared Visions” from Nov.… Read the rest “Shared Visions #TactileArt Exhibit Opens Nov. 9: @ArapahoeCC @ArtACunningham”

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  • Friday’s Fish Flaying

    by

    Dan Burke

    Two sets of blue gloved hands exploring a shark from either side of the table

    Two sets of blue gloved hands exploring a shark from opposite sides of the table
    Okay, it wasn’t that gruesome!
    But it was the 11th year that Professor Terry Harrison has led a shark dissection at the Colorado Center for the Blind. The idea was, and still is, to give blind youth a chance to get really hands-on with science. In this case, anatomy.

    Every year, Professor Harrison arrives about an hour before the class is to begin and lays out the specimens – about a dozen dog sharks or dogfish , all between two and three feet in length. Along with them are scalpels, probes and vinyl gloves. At some point in the morning, we’ll learn that sharks don’t sleep, can’t stop moving water over their gills or they’ll suffocate, and that in the UK and Ireland it’s a fair chance that they are the main ingredient of your fish and chips.… Read the rest “Friday’s Fish Flaying”

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  • Shark Dissection with @ArapahoeCC’s Terry Harrison Friday! #STEM

    by

    Dan Burke

    teacher and student bend over a dog shark

    It’s that time of the year. Just as we start to think about turkey and stuffing with cranberries, it’s time for blind kids in the area to get hands-on with shark innards!

    As he has for more than a decade, Arapahoe Community College’s Biology Professor Terry Harrison will lead a shark dissection at CCB on Friday, November 18. Harrison has partnered with CCB to ensure that blind kids in Colorado get actual experience in this one aspect of the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). Participants will handle the scalpels, determine sex, examine the lungs, liver and those sharp little dog shark teeth.… Read the rest “Shark Dissection with @ArapahoeCC’s Terry Harrison Friday! #STEM”

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