Independence Training Program

Warren completed his woodshop project this week. We’ll call it a “Littleton Slugger”, which he turned on the mini-lathe. He plans to have all his instructors sign it when he graduates and returns home to Philadelphia.

Wednesday Brigid successfully completed her support drop and Marlene went on her solo drop. Oh yeah, Marlene made it back too.

Every Tuesday morning a different group of Center students heads out back to our Legacy Garden to meet the Colorado Master Gardeners from Arapahoe County, and to see just what’s happening out there. Students work with the Master Gardeners to plant, cultivate and harvest the bounty. In these hot, hot days of August the lilies are done blooming, but the vegetable garden comes into its own, and it really is a bounty!

On recent Tuesdays students have begun bringing in eggplant, zucchini (quite large), tomatoes, tomatillos, various peppers, kale, cucumbers, celery, basil and peaches! The produce is used in the kitchen in Home Management class or taken home for personal cooking by the students at the McGeorge Mountain Terrace Apartments. If there’s any leavings, staff gather it up for their own kitchens.

What could be better than freshly picked, home grown (organic) produce? Hmmm, maybe only the confidence and satisfaction that comes from knowing that you helped grow it!

We’re inviting the community in to learn how blind people do things, but our real purpose is to give folks a chance to learn that blind people are really a lot like themselves.

We’re inviting the community in to learn how blind people do things, but our real purpose is to give folks a chance to learn that blind people are really a lot like themselves.

You see them all over Littleton traveling with their white canes, many wearing sleep shades. Who are they and where do they come from? They are students from the Colorado Center for the Blind, located in the old YMCA building at 2233 W. Shepperd Avenue.

As part of WesternWelcome Week, we invite you to join the staff and students for an interactive tour and learn how they do it – travel, read with those little dots, cook, use power tools, and listen to the latest podcast with their smart phones. Meanwhile, the kids can take a few shots at goal ball, the sport played entirely under sleep shades.

Tour Times

Monday, August 15
5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Sometimes we get a chance to measure how far we’ve come in life, in school, in athletics or in a blindness training program. Matt found such a moment in his Home Management class.as he worked on and ssucessfully cooked and served his mini-meal.

Not only did we say good-bye to our 24 summer students in the past week, we also saw the departure of two friends and colleagues who’ve been with us for much of July.

We’ve been excited to host Kimie Beverly as a student for the past three weeks. Kimie is President of the National Federation of the Blind of Nevada and a past NFB Scholarship recipient. Sunday she flies to Baltimore where she starts on Monday working at our National Center for the Blind on legislative initiatives such as the Transitioning to Integrated and Meaningful Employment, or TIME Act.

Americans with disabilities relegated to the injustice and indignity of subminimum wages have a new champion in Kimie Beverly! It’s been great to have you with us Kimie!

It was a true taste of Philly when Warren served his Mini-meal for fifteen last month.

HIGHLIGHTING the menu were Amorosa Kaiser Rolls flown direct from the bakery in Philly and iced Wawa coffee. And there were other touches, despite the No-choice ‘menu … we'll let Warren and his guests tell you all about it:

Saturday, July 16 was our Summer Science Seminar. With 24 summer youth we divided into three groups and rotated between three science activities. Martin strapped on the Go Pro and followed all three groups through their water rocket activity with Jamie Principato, a blind physics student who just finished her Associate’s degree at Arapahoe Community...

It’s a rocking week at the Center! After being away at the NFB Convention for two of our Tuesday gardening days, the Tech classes checked things out this week. Japanese eggplant was ready and everyone got a little excited about the peach tree we planted a couple of years ago. It’s the first year it’s big enough to really bear fruit, and it is!

We have a couple of new ITP students. Also, Will is a grad student at UNC and is doing part of his practicum in Orientation and Mobility with us for three weeks. And Alfred D’Agostino, Chair of the Chemistry Department at Notre Dame of Maryland is here this week teaching our students the fundamentals of the Talking Lab Quest from Independence Science and its applications in Chemistry. Dr. D’Agostino has taught college chemistry for more than 20 years.

And then there are the mini-meals and so much more happening this week! Like summer kids canoeing and ITP students rock climbing. In fact, Alfred, a former Boy Scout Troop leader, will join the rock climbers tomorrow!

Then it’s Science Day for Summer on Saturday!

Whew!

We’re back! The 2016 Convention of the National Federation of the Blind, which all staff and students in our Independence Training Program and our summer students attended in Orlando from June 30 to July 5. Everyone flew back last Wednesday.

Summer students and staff had just one day to do laundry, get groceries in their apartments and rest a bit. Then on Friday they went white water rafting on Clear Creek near Idaho Springs, about an hour west of Littleton. Here are a couple of photos from the trip …

Skills and confidence in the kitchen are the twin goals our Home Management instructors have for their students. So a while back they ratcheted up the expectations – and the fun – with CCB’s own version of the Food Network’s reality cooking show Chopped. The four combined classes were each divided into two teams of two or three members that competed against each other.

Like the TV show that pits chefs against one another, each team got a basket of selected ingredients that they were required to incorporate into their three-course meal. They had two hours to create and then to present their creation to the three judges.

Here’s a taste of the excitement… Enjoy!