Take Charge with Confidence and Self-Reliance

Tag: STEM

  • We Believe In Our Students’ Dreams

    by

    Dan Burke

    A view down the table of blind youth getting hands on experience making simple circuits

     Support Us Today

    Community First Foundation Colorado Gives Day December 6, 2022 Logo

    You can’t pursue your dreams without first believing you can. With your support on Colorado Gives Day today, we’ll continue to work to confront the problem of low expectations for blind people in education, employment, and virtually every aspect of our lives. We teach our blind students skills, imbue them with self-confidence, and nurture resilience, even after graduation. In other words, our students learn they can believe In their dreams!

    And that Is all any of us could ask for!

    A view down the table of blind youth getting hands on experience making simple circuits

    Please support us today, Colorado Gives Day!

    Every donation you make today on our Colorado Gives page counts toward our percentage of the $1.4 Million Incentive Fund, helping your donation go even farther to support programs that lead to independence for blind people!… Read the rest “We Believe In Our Students’ Dreams”

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  • Announcing Homework Club!

    by

    Dan Burke

    Anahit and Nate Making a Sandwitch

    After School Program

    Editor’s Note: This announcement went out via email this week, but constitutes months of dreaming, planning and recruitment and coordination. Suddenly, our familiarity with virtual platforms creates an opportunity to reach out to blind kids in new and innovative ways!

    Anahit and Nate Making a Sandwitch

    Dear Parents/Guardians:

    Thank you for being strong and supportive partners in your blind/low vision child’s educational journey! We know that homework, some new concepts and various skills can be overwhelming to tackle. Perhaps at times, your child might just need to check in to refresh their knowledge about a particular topic. Our new program, Homework Club, is here to assist!… Read the rest “Announcing Homework Club!”

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  • CCB’s 2020 Virtual Summer Sessions for Youth – Join Us!

    by

    Dan Burke

    CCB Summer Tech Instructor engaged with his laptop and Smart Phone

    CCB Summer Tech Instructor engaged with his laptop and Smart Phone(Editor’s Note: We don’t blame you for wondering what is up with our summer programs for youth. The coronavirus and the subsequent shutdown orders put us into a scramble, affecting not only our youth programs, but seniors and the Independence Training Program, too. Here’s an announcement from our Youth Services Director Martin Becerra-Miranda that should clear things up.)

    by Martin Becerra-Miranda
    Each spring, as plans for our Summer Youth programming come together, Executive Director Julie Deden eventually exclaims, “This is going to be the best summer program ever!” Her positivity, encouragement, and support have not wavered one bit through the COVID-19 pandemic.… Read the rest “CCB’s 2020 Virtual Summer Sessions for Youth – Join Us!”

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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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  • We’re open today, and sharks are on for tomorrow! The #BombCyclone has blown on by!

    by

    Dan Burke

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

    It was a relatively calm morning after yesterday’s Bomb Cyclone, with 8 to 12 inches of snow and extreme winds blowing the flakes sideways and into drifts. Admittedly we had to skate our way into the Center before eight this morning, climbing over ice boulders thrown onto the sidewalk along Prince Street by snowplows, but we are here. We are grateful not to be among the nearly 80,000 customers in the Metro area without power this morning.

    And we are on for tomorrow’s shark dissection with Arapahoe Community College’s Terry Harrison. We’re plowing and digging and de-icing our way out in plenty of time for that!… Read the rest “We’re open today, and sharks are on for tomorrow! The #BombCyclone has blown on by!”

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  • Announcing Our 2019 Summer Youth Programs

    by

    Dan Burke

    Summer Students work with the LabQuest

    For 2019, we’ll offer our long-standing summer youth programs, including Confidence Camp/BELL and our 8-week residential program for high school and college-aged youth. But we’ll also offer shorter-term and more focused “modules”, describe below. For more information on our 2019 Summer Youth Programs, contact Martin Becerra-Miranda at 303-778-1130, ext. 2223, or mbecerra@cocenter.org.

    Confidence Camp/BELL Academy

    Dates: June 10 through June 21
    Ages: 5 to 10
    Location: Colorado Center for the Blind

    Program Description

    This two-week day program will be filled with learning, challenge and fun. Your child will meet competent blind role models who will work with the kids on cooking, cleaning, Braille, independent travel and technology.… Read the rest “Announcing Our 2019 Summer Youth Programs”

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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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  • Access & #TactileLiteracy: A Day in Our College Prep Class

    by

    Dan Burke

    Access to concepts and information presented in graphical form has long been a challenge for blind college students. In the past couple of decades the surge in digitally-displayed content has, well, gone supernova. Thus, blind college students need to develop basic tactile literacy with two- and thre-dimensional representations that their sighted peers may have learned much more informally through media such as picture books, television, film, or YouTube. Blind people learn how things look best by touch. Descriptions are a stop-gap, but only that. Thus, one aspect of our College Prep class’s goal of preparing our students to be savvy and nimble in gaining access to their studies involves taking a look at the kinds of things colleges may throw in front of them and expect them to be able to interpret.… Read the rest “Access & #TactileLiteracy: A Day in Our College Prep Class”

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  • Watch CCB Indoor Skydiving @iFLYDenver featured last night on @CBSDenver!

    by

    Dan Burke

    Leon Free Flying the I Fly Denver Wind Tunnel

    Leon Free Flying the I Fly Denver Wind Tunnel
    I-Fly Denver invited us over on Monday to take flight and learn about the science around wind tunnels and things like force and resistance. There was math involved, just saying.

    then we got to experience push and pull full-body, so to speak. Here’s a story from CBS Denver Channel 4 last night:

    Skydiving Business Helps Students At Center For The Blind

    Thanks to everyone at I-Fly Denver – we had a great time!

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