General Colorado Center Information

We are proud to announce that CCB alum Graham Norwood is a Semi-finalist in the 2017 Holman Prize for Blind Ambition. That’s quite an accomplishment!

The Holman Prize challenges blind individuals to “make the world more accessible, more welcoming, or more exciting” through innovative projects that promote independence and inclusion. Learn more about the Prize and its mission at the website below:

https://www.holmanprize.org

Chaz admits he was only a little above the average college student with respect to his cooking skills. Now he’s made lasagna from scratch and fed fifteen people witt it.

No, you won’t be singing any Disney song when you go under the pool.

It’s dirty and dark and forgotten … Except by Travel Instructor David Nietfeld, who today took the Philosophy class on an historical tour of the Center, which was formerly a YMCA. Since part of the student body was off at a boxing gym and another in our gym doing Martial Arts, David had a smaller contingent to take on his tour. He explained where there were once windows overlooking the raquetball courts, whose office once were locker room showers and whose had toilets at one time.

What were we thinking? Well, we encountered wood ducks this week in our Birding by Ear class when we strolled over to the pond at Sterne Park. Sure, there were the standard mallards with their easily recognizable quacking, but that other sound – that rising note – was that really a duck?

yes, it’s a wood duck, and there were several on the pod that day – a whole new bird sound for the group

Before going out, the class examined a number of casts of bird skulls, the discussion focusing on the different kinds of beaks that various birds have, and thus, the different things they feed on- predators with sharp, curved beaks, nut and seed feeders with powerful beaks to crack things open, and small pointed beaks for catching small insects for lunch.

Tomorrow is another birding by ear class, and we’ll see what new birds have returned for the spring.

Last week was busy with drops and support drops.

The “Drop”, or independent drop is one of the two final requirements of our cane travel instruction. Ryan and Trevor both completed theirs last week, having been dropped somewhere in the Denver Metro area and permitted one question on their trip back to the Center.

The “support drop” is more or less a dress rehearsal for the independent drop. Everything is the same except that the student’s travel instructor goes along. The instructor, by the way, doesn’t know where they are either and also wears sleepshades. Both Julie and Suzie completed support drops last week.

The drop is the culmination of many months of instruction and daily practice of those travel skills, including how to orient, problem-solve, analyze and cross many kinds of intersections and how to find a bus stop. The confidence students gain from completing this requirement is obvious the minute they walk in the front door of the Center, having succeeded, and the announcement goes over the public address system congratulating them!

Wow! Nearly 150 were on hand Friday, March 10 for our first Making Connections that Work for You Seminar. It really worked! Thanks to all that attended!

We especially want to thank our keynote speaker, Alexandra Hall, Colorado Department of Labor and Employment’s Director of the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics and Chief Economist. She was inspiring, as she said she was instructed to be, but also funny and smart and gave us just enough stats to make us think. Best of all, she’s living proof that finding your career path doesn’t necessarily mean going in a straight line. A little wandering off-road doesn’t rule out success in the long run!

And thanks to all our employers and presenters and DVR staff. You helped make this valuable for everyone.

So, let’s get together and do this again!

Here’s a shout out to this year’s crew from Rice University in Houston who came to work as volunteers on March 16 and 17. They spend an “Alternative Spring Break” volunteering, first at Winter Park with the NSCD adaptive ski program, and then in Littleton.

Zen and the Art of Archery was a popular book in the 1970s among a certain crowd in which martial arts practitioners became adept at hitting the bullseye while blindfolded. What does that mean? Who really knows, other than it was the era of the “Kung Fu” TV series.

Nonetheless, our partners at NSCD arranged an archery class for some of our students, and it took place in the gym last Tuesday.

Dare we say it? It really hit the mark!

Okay, Tuesdays can get a little wild anyway, what with Seniors coming and filling up our large conference room all morning. You gotta believe us – we love having them!

But meanwhile, down in the gym …

We had both Martial arts and Archery happening all at once. The wildest imaginations might have the martial arts students blocking and catching flying arrows, but that’s not at all the scenario. That’s just imagination …

Experience taking the podium and speaking to a group is one of those things that many of us don’t do often, but is definitely an important part of a job-seeker’s toolbox, as well as something our students may be called on to do once they have a job. Employment Specialist Monique Melton teaches this class to about half a dozen students at a time. Here are some highlights from the latest group, in order Jackson, Ceci, Graham, C.G. and Brittany: