Blind Youth

Editor's Note: Here's some news from Youth Director Martin Becerra-Miranda. He's been busy hosting lots of Zoom meetings for our staff and ITP students for the past month. But he's also had time to think about what he wants to do with our FAST (Fun Skills Activities and Training) for youth, and maybe, just maybe, he misses the real energy of working with kids. So we're going virtual with FAST starting this Friday!

Who?

Blind students of all ages and their family members

Where?

This will be a virtual meeting on the Zoom platform

When?

Friday, April 24, 2020 at 7:00 PM

Observing “Social Distancing” guidelines doesn’t have to mean being socially disconnected. The Colorado Center for the Blind FAST program will therefore host a virtual get-together every other Friday evening at 7:00 PM., starting April 24.

The date of our annual FAST Thanksgiving activity has been changed from earlier dates you may have seen.

Who?

Blind students of all ages, families and teachers

Where?

Colorado Center for the Blind, 2233 W. Shepperd Ave. Littleton CO, 80120

When?

Saturday, November 23, 2019 from 10:00AM – 2:00PM

“FAST” stands for Fun Activities & Skills Training, which is our monthly school-year program directed at blind youth and their families. FAST activities will occur on either the second Friday evening or second Saturday of each month.

Back to School: Setting goals, seeing progress, and finding success!

Who?

Blind students of all ages and their families.

What?

CCB’s FAST Program.

Where?

Colorado Center for the Blind
2233 W. Shepperd Ave.
Littleton CO, 80120

When?

Friday September 13, 2019 from 5–7:30 PM.

Join us for the April Fun Activities and Skills Training (FAST) on Saturday, April 13 at the Denver Art Museum. We’ll be exploring “Treasures of British Art” at DAM’s Tactile Tables. It’s art that is accessible to everyone, except that there is room for only fifteen in our group! Admission to the museum is free.

We will take a van from CCB to DAM, or you can meet us there. Please RSVP and let us know if you will need a ride from CCB or meet us at the Hamilton Building. Here’s a quick schedule for the day:

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!

It was a busy time In Washington, DC that week of January 28.

Okay, that’s an understatement.

Congresswoman Diana DeGette was called down to the House floor for a vote just as we were getting off the elevator. (We know this because a bell rings in the House office buildings calling members to the floor, and it sounded just as we got off.). She made it back just as our meeting with her Legislative Aide was coming to a close. So she greeted each of us (about 15 people) and we got the photo above with our high school students, Ian Lee (Aurora) and Deyannira Villa Cazares (Denver).

Editor’s Note: In the fall we invited blind Colorado high school students to apply for our first-ever scholarship to attend the National Federation of the Blind’s annual Washington Seminar. Students were asked to submit an essay telling us why they wanted to go, and we selected two students to come with us. In fact, that’s where some of us are right now, including three staff members and three ITP students along with the high school students.

Tomorrow we’ll be on the Hill going to appointments at all nine offices of the Colorado Congressional delegation. Here’s a press release issued today by the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado.

We hosted the Braille Challenge today, referred to as the “Braille Blizzard Challenge” by the seven Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind (CSDB) staff members who drove north in the storm, sometimes at 25 MPH or slower. It was also slow going for participants, teachers and parents who came from as far away as Dillon and Fairplay. It even took as long as 90 minutes to get to Littleton from Aurora as wind and snow swirled across the Metro area this morning, beginning about 8 a.m.

There were 14 participants in the Braille Challenge hosted here today, and there were 25 in Colorado Springs last Thursday at CSDB. No doubt, Braille Rules!

Are you interested in learning about advocacy and legislation?

Would you like to meet Colorado’s U.S. Senators and Representatives?

Wouldn’t it be fun to travel to our nation’s Capital with dynamic blind leaders?

Take advantage of this great opportunity! Apply for a scholarship offered by the Colorado Center for the blind youth program.

Event: Washington Seminar, an event of the National Federation of the blind

Dates: Sunday January 27 to Wednesday January 30, 2019

Scholarship includes: airfare to Washington DC, lodging at the Capitol Holiday Inn and a food allowance. Chaperones from the Colorado Center for the Blind will be with each student.