Colorado Center for the Blind

Turning the Tables: CCB Role Reversal Day 2022

by
Dan Burke

February 7, 2022

Students from every continent and every epoch imagine, even if only idly, of someday, somehow turning the tables on their teachers. Likely they don’t realize until they have done it, that their teachers also may see such a reversal as an opportunity to return the torment.

That’s partly the story of Role Reversal Day 2022, held on Friday, February 4. Hand it to the leadership of the CCB Student Association for organizing carefully and thoroughly, putting staff into groups and planning the schedule, even reviewing lesson plans from each ”teacher of the day.” This is the group, remember, that collected necessary items for the NICU babies when Avista Adventist Hospital was forced to evacuate during the December, 30 Marshall Fire in Boulder County.… Read the rest “Turning the Tables: CCB Role Reversal Day 2022”
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It’s a new kind of graduation, and Charis is the first!

by
Dan Burke

June 19, 2020

Today Charis is graduating from the center. Hers will be a unique graduation, with the actual Freedom Bell ceremony and the “love session” that typically follows being conducted on Zoom for social distancing purposes. No hug from Julie.

Charis was just one week away from finishing her program when we closed the building in late March and many of our students went home. Graduation means, among other requirements, that she must cook a meal for the entire center. Today that’s about 30 of us altogether.

On the menu was Mediterranean quinoa salad, home-baked challah dinner rolls and Devil’s Food cupcakes.… Read the rest “It’s a new kind of graduation, and Charis is the first!”
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“How My Life Changed at the Colorado Center for the Blind” @CatchTheseWords

by
Dan Burke

December 22, 2019

Editor’s Note: We introduced you to holly some months ago, when the weather was warmer and she was a relatively new student at the center. She comes from the United Kingdom and her drive to attend the Colorado Center for the Blind stems in part from the fact that, as she says “there aren’t any training centers where I’m from.” And that means not even bad ones. Holly is a widely-read blogger on disability and blindness (Catch These Words), and we thought her thoughts on this video after completing our program – one of the more rigorous blindness training programs there is – offer us all an important perspective on what we do here, and why.
… Read the rest ““How My Life Changed at the Colorado Center for the Blind” @CatchTheseWords”
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A salute to Our Graduates #COGivesDay

by
Dan Burke

December 9, 2019

Executive Director Julie Deden wrote this salute to the final five students graduating from the Colorado Center for the Blind in 2019.

Colorado Gives Day is this Tuesday, December 10, and as we do each year at this time, we are asking for your financial support for our programs at the Colorado Center for the Blind. In the next couple of weeks, five students will graduate from our Independence Training program. Each of these students have made tremendous accomplishments that will propel them towards an exciting life. Each of them now realizes that being blind does not need to stop them from doing what they want to do with their lives.… Read the rest “A salute to Our Graduates #COGivesDay”
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Signs of Spring

by
Dan Burke

April 20, 2019

Sometimes spring arrives in Colorado in waves that feel like that bad bus driver, the one who alternately steps on the gas and then lets off, again and again, rocking you forward and back into half-nausea. That’s how it’s been this year – 80 degree days followed by an icy blast of wind and snow and then it starts again. But underfoot (and a couple of times under the snow), the grass is greening and the smell of the damp, warming soil is like a reassuring promise, while overhead in the budding trees robins and sparrows and towhees announce their return.… Read the rest “Signs of Spring”
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It’s #ColoradoGivesDay! Please make a donation to CCB!

by
Dan Burke

December 4, 2018

These are the faces of just a few who have benefitted from previous Colorado Gives Day donations. They range from ages 5 and up and their circumstances are all a bit different, but all have gained the skills and the confidence to “Take Charge with Self-reliance!”

This year our Confidence Camp for Kids (CC4K) had 11 elementary school kids for this two-week day-camp. They worked on Braille and cane skills all the time, but also learned to make their own lunches, traveled on the light rail and bus, went canoeing and rock climbing and gained a peer group of other blind kids.… Read the rest “It’s #ColoradoGivesDay! Please make a donation to CCB!”
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From Motorcycles to the New Parking Lot to the #NFBCO18 Convention: Catching Up with All of Autumn

by
Dan Burke

November 5, 2018

There are lots of opportunities for students at the Colorado Center for the Blind. Some are part of the formal program, others staff and students develop out of their own interests and contacts. This fall activities like motorcycle rides and rock climbing were mixed in with graduations and the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado Convention, to name a few.

Pictured above: On September 9 students had a chance to go for a motorcycle ride into the mountains. Members of the Sentinels Motorcycle Club loaded up students and took a tour as far as Indian Hills before returning for lunch at Wrigley’s Chicago Bar & Grill in golden.… Read the rest “From Motorcycles to the New Parking Lot to the #NFBCO18 Convention: Catching Up with All of Autumn”
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“I rang my Freedom Bell (again)!” Serena has a new job!

by
Dan Burke

October 19, 2017

Editor’s Note: What follows is an e-mail Director Julie Deden received from Serena, a recent graduate of our Independence Training Program (ITP).Serena is the fifth ITP grad to find employment in the last month or so. It’s the best kind of news! We print the message with her permission.

* * *

Hi Julie,

I have some great news for you. Today, I received my official offer of employment from the NJ Commission for the Blind! I’ll be working with blind seniors. I’ll be starting on October 30th.

Words can’t express the gratitude I feel towards you and all my instructors for all I learned during my time at CCB. … Read the rest ““I rang my Freedom Bell (again)!” Serena has a new job!”
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Our #Mother’sDay Tribute: The Moms of 3 Recent Grads Speak of Independence

by
Dan Burke

May 14, 2017

Moms, along with Dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, cousins, friends and of course spouses and children, regularly attend the graduation ceremonies of our students. The clips that make up this video are from three 2017 graduations – those for Jackson, Trevor and Brittany, during which their respective moms ( and one grandma), shared their feelings and hopes for their now-grown children. There’s nothing we can really add and, since it’s Mother’s Day, we’ll let the Moms hold center stage as they should. Here’s our love and thanks to all those Moms who believe in the independence of their blind children.… Read the rest “Our #Mother’sDay Tribute: The Moms of 3 Recent Grads Speak of Independence”
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Wind Chimes of Freedom: This week’s 3 Wood Shop Projects

by
Dan Burke

May 10, 2017

We have three graduations this week – Courtney, or C.G. as she has been known in her time at CCB, graduated on Monday, Suzie today, wednesday, and Ellen finishes on Thursday. All of them finished excellent wood shop projects last week. Ellen built a very nice bookshelf, and both C.G. and Suzie made the first sets of wind chimes students have made here. There must be something in the air … Well, the ringing of Freedom Bells, naturally!

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