Youth Programs

Students at @cocenter4blind got a chance to experience science in all its disgusting glory.

By Ramsey Scott
November 18, 2014
Columbine Courier

“Yucks!” blended with yucks as the students probed the stomach contents of the dogfish sharks they were dissecting

“I found a claw,” said one student, as he waved miniature pincers in the air.

“I found a fish,” another student said as she held high a half-digested fish body.

A biology class cutting open a formaldehyde-soaked animal isn’t necessarily a unique event. Yet for most of the class at the Colorado Center for the Blind in Littleton on Nov. 14, it was their first chance to experience what most students take for granted.

“This is my first time doing anything like this. It’s really interesting and a little nasty,” said Nick Crowell, 17, a student at the Colorado Springs-based Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind who came to Littleton for the class. “It’s interesting because we get to see how similar humans are to some animals. And they’re letting us use sharp instruments, and we don’t really get to do that.”

Our FAST Saturdays program for youth will meet the second Saturday of each month and involve a variety of activities. FAST stands for FUN ACTIVITIES and SKILLS TRAINING

We at the Center are excited about new or strengthened collaborations with Rocky Mountain Goal Ball, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR in Boulder is sometimes referred to as NCAR), and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

Sports, STEM, and the arts it’s just the balance we’re seeking with our FAST Saturdays!

RSVP to Brent Batron 303-778-1130 x 222 or bbatron@cocenter.org

Saturday September 13 – Rocky Mountain Goal ball

2 – 6 pm

Come and learn the sport of Goal ball with Matt Simpson, para-Olympic goal ball star

Goal ball will be played Saturdays at the Colorado Center for the Blind nearly every week this fall!! A complete schedule will follow shortly.

Saturday October 11 – FAST Saturday Science

10 am – 2 pm

Watch the video of the July 30 Talent Show finale:

Summer Youth Programs ended July 30 with a student talent show featuring solo singing and duets, Native American flute, songs in Spanish, Mandarin and Thai, as well as lively and funny Emceeing.

The finale of the show – and the summer – was was ‘You Don’t Know You’re Beautiful’ sung by all summer students and staff.

Why this song? Youth Services Director Brent Batron decided it was the theme of the summer after hearing it almost every day for month at 7 a.m. Early-arriving students took advantage of the baby grand piano in our lobby to play and sing before the start of classes. ‘You Don’t Know You’re Beautiful’ was a daily favorite.

Editor’s Note: Annalyn, a 17-year-old from South Carolina, was part of our Earn and Learn Program in 2014. She worked at the Auraria Childcare Center with infants and toddlers, taking a 20-minute light rail ride to work early each morning. She wrote this thank-you letter in perfect contracted Braille with her slate and stylus. The next morning, our next-to-last day in the Summer 2014 Youth Programs, she read it aloud to Brent and Julie at our morning announcements.

Read the letter and you might see why Brent and Julie were momentarily speechless, but also why we do what we do at the Colorado Center for the Blind.

Dear Brent and Julie,

This year’s shark dissection, sponsored by Arapahoe Community College and directed by its Terry Harrison, attracted more than 30 local blind middle school and high school students to the Center on November 22. Oh yeah, the kids brought teachers and parents, too. It’s all part of our ongoing commitment to make STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) subjects accessible to blind students.

Nelson Garcia, 9News Education Reporter also showed up with a camera crew, and here’s the short video clip that appeared that evening on KUSA in Denver:

A Celebration to Remember!

The Colorado Center for the Blind first opened its doors in January of 1988 with three staff members and five students. On September 13 & 14, 2013, the Center held its 25th Anniversary Celebration with an open house and a gala banquet.

Friday, September 13

The rain stopped and the sky cleared for a few hours on Friday, September 13, 2013. It lasted just long enough for the opening ceremony of the 25th Anniversary Celebration, along with tours of the Center, and rides in the National Federation of the Blind’s Blind Driver Challenge car. Guests also enjoyed bratwursts grilled by current Center students.

Distinguished guests at the morning ceremony included Littleton’s Mayor Debbie Brinkman, National Federation of the Blind First Vice President Frederick K. Schroeder, NFB of Colorado President Scott LaBarre and founder and long-time Director at the Center, Diane McGeorge.