Independence Training Program

There was plenty on Thursday, November 16 – plenty to eat and to be thankful for at our 100-percent student-prepared Thanksgiving Feast!

It’s tradition at the Colorado Center for the Blind to hold our own Thanksgiving feast before we break for visits to family and friends on the official holiday. Our students cook it all with the guidance of our unparalleled Home Management staff, and there are always a lot of “firsts”.

For example, every year there are students who have never seen what a turkey looks like just out of the refrigerator. So on Tuesday, with serving gloves on, students examined and explored the four turkeys that eventually became our dinner.

And on Thursday in the buffet line Casey was happily talking about the gravy he had made.

In this part of the world, the BBC’s World Service can be heard during normal sleeping hours on one of our public radio stations. This week our volunteer photographer/videographer Mike Thompson had the BBC World Service on while falling back to sleep in the wee hours when he heard a familiar voice and a familiar name – Poonam Vaidya.

Poonam is from Bangalore, India and was one of our international students. (We always try to have one international student at any given time.) She graduated in 2016. Poonam was one of two blind women interviewed for the BBC program, “The Conversation.” The 30-minute radio podcast gives interesting insights into how blindness is viewed in other cultures.

And thanks for the great plug, Poonam!

Listen to the episode

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:

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2017/11/13/students-center-for-blind-skydiving/

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

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.

Students and staff took a Friday afternoon to visit the Chatfield Farms Corn Maze. Martin took his GoPro along and brought back this footage. It was “Structured Discovery” at its most fun!

Everyone – staff and students – were in Fort Collins last weekend for the 63rd Convention of the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado. For some, it was their first convention, while others were very involved in a number of activities and divisions.

Above, these three recent alums were at the podium at different moments. Left to right: Blanca was part of the CCB presentation talking about her training and her new job; Tabea was one of the scholarship winners, here shown as part of the “My Blindness, My Self” panel; and Ryan also talked about his new job, and how he was quickly moved to a new position that challenged him even more. He had met many challenges as a student and that confidence helped him push forward.

Master Gardeners and students joined forces one last time in mid-October to put our Legacy Garden to rest for the 2017 growing season. There were still a few things to harvest, mostly walking onions and mint, but the rest was clean-up. Still, it was a bright fall day and great to be outside and enjoy a few laughs and good work.

Thanks again to our Master Gardeners. It was a great season!

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.

If you’re on the Front Range of Colorado this post won’t surprise you, because you drove/walked/bussed in a steadily-falling snow this morning.

But let’s admit it – this 3 to 5 inches of snow is a bit early this year, just think of all those trees whose leaves have yet to drop! Tonight will be a killing freeze, with temps in the low 20s. That will likely mean an icy commute tomorrow morning. Tricky, but it’s part of the deal. Blind people have to go to work in good weather and bad, just like anyone else. And that’s what we teach and expect here at the Center.

So, we’ll be open tomorrow just like today, unless of course frozen branches knock out the power, as they did in an arc that went around us, from the Bemis Library to the Littleton Downtown Light Rail Station.

There are always firsts at the Colorado Center for the Blind. For example, today Casey, a relatively new student, went on his first independent route to Romancing the Bean. Sure, he’d been there before, but not traveling on his own. And that’s what makes it a first.

Adia has been at the center since August, and last night she cooked her dinner party – for herself and five guests. This afternoon, Cody completed his mini-meal – it’s only for 15 people. He served Mississippi Pot Roast over smoked mashed potatoes and homemade bread.

What makes the pot roast “Mississippi?”

“A whole lot of butter.”

And this afternoon the CCB Student Association is hosting the first-ever pie contest. There are seven student entries, and Julie, Daniel and Vicki are the judges.