National Association of Blind Students
From the Desk of the President
October 5, 2010
1. NABS Reps are Here for You!
2. This Month’s Conference Call: Science and More!
3. NABS Kicks off Pennies for Pages Fund-Raiser!
4. Announcement from Virginia!
5. Minutes from Last NABS Board Meeting!
NABS Reps are Here for You!
Are you hoping to organize a new student division at your state convention this year? Is your division looking for new ideas or planning a change of leadership? Are you looking for advice from someone who is experienced in organizing and leading student divisions? The NABS board are here to help!
Our NABS officers travel across the country each year attending many of our NFB state conventions and helping your state divisions connect with the national NABS. If you would like to have a NABS board representative come to your next state convention, student seminar, or other event, you can request a NABS rep by going to our website, www.nabslink.org and filling out the online form. Also, check out the “About Us” page of our website to find out which NABS board member is assigned to your state.
This Month’s Conference Calls: Science and More!
**This month we will be having two conference calls: one for blind students and one for their parents! Below is information about the student call; information about the parent call will be sent out in a separate message.
Attention All Students!
Ever been curious about what majors and specializations blind individuals have had in the past? Have you ever felt like learning about fields such as Science, Technology, Engineering and Math- (STEM), are “too difficult”? Do alternative techniques a blind person may use in such fields just baffle you?
If any of the above apply to you-
Please attend the Membership phone call, presented by the Membership Committee of the National Association of Blind Students. We are going to cover concerns, techniques, and generalized information about how blind students can participate on equal terms with their sighted peers, even when focusing on STEM fields.
Date: Sunday, October 17, 2010
When: 7 pm EST #
Where: NABS conference line- (712)775-7100 Code: 257963#.
Why: TO learn and network with other blind students who wish to pursuer careers, or just get to know about opportunities in the STEM fields for the blind.
We will discuss items such as the NASA Excel program, Youth Slam, the Junior Science Academy, etc… We are open to all types of technique questions, resource question, to be answered by the guest speaker and the committee. Hope to see you there!
Sincerely,
Membership Committee
National Association of Blind Students
3. NABS Kicks off Pennies for Pages 2010-2011!
Sean Whalen, second vice-president of NABS, writes:
Greetings to all members and friends of NABS,
I am writing to announce and solicit your participation in an exciting fundraising effort that the National Association of Blind Students is currently undertaking. The fundraiser is our second annual Pennies for Pages, and is being run in conjunction with the NFB’s Braille Readers are Leaders contest. We believe that this fundraiser has a lot of potential. However, in order to realize this potential, we need help from all of you!
The idea is this. Students, or anybody else who is interested in helping to raise money for Braille literacy and our national and state student divisions, can sign up to participate in the Braille Readers are Leaders program and then solicit donations from friends, family, or anybody really, for Braille pages read throughout the duration of the contest. Of course, donations of fixed sums are also gratefully accepted.
If you are already participating in either the K-12 or Adult Braille Readers are Leaders contests, you can simply register with NABS as a reader and find people to sponsor you for each page you read. To register as a reader with NABS, please fill the online form at:
www.nabslink.org/pennies_for_pages/pennies_form.php
Or contact Sean Whalen at smwhalenpsp@gmail.com or 608 332-4147.
If you are not yet signed up for the contest, no worries! The reading contest runs from November 1, 2010 through January 4, 2011, and registration for Braille Readers are Leaders is open now, and will remain open throughout the duration of the contest. To register for either the K-12 or Adult Braille Readers are Leaders Contests, please go to www.nfb.org/bral. And, remember, once you have registered for the contest, sign up with NABS to participate in our Pennies for Pages fundraising effort!
If, rather than registering as a reader, you would like to support NABS’ efforts by sponsoring a reader, or making a fixed donation, please either register as a sponsor at:
www.nabslink.org/pennies_for_pages/pennies_form.php
or contact Sean Whalen at smwhalenpsp@gmail.com or 608 332-4147.
Donations can be accepted in cash or as checks made out to the National Association of Blind Students and can be given to our Treasurer, Nijat Worley, either in person at Washington Seminar or sent, via postal mail, to:
Nijat Worley
2905 East College Ave, Unit 106
Boulder, CO 80303
If you wish to participate or have any questions at all about the plan, please contact Sean Whalen at either 608-332-4147 or smwhalenpsp@gmail.com. I will be compiling the list of participants and would be happy to answer any questions which anybody might have.
Any money we raise through Pennies for Pages will be shared, in equal portions, between NABS, the National Association to Promote the Use of Braille, and the state student divisions (or affiliates) in which the readers reside.
NABS looks forward to working together to raise money for, and promote awareness of, Braille literacy!
Sincerely,
Sean Whalen
4. Announcement from Virginia:
Accessible technology is helpful, but it can be hard to learn how students use it in the classroom. Orientation and mobility training is useful, but many students aren’t sure how to apply their skills to new surroundings…especially a busy mass-transit system like that in the greater Washington, DC area. And working to get electronic textbooks can make the already burdensome life a student even more hectic. Well at this year’s NFB of Virginia convention, students will gain hands-on experience, access to successful students, and directly applicable strategies for all of these situations. Our convention will be held November 12-14 at the Marriott Fairview Park in Falls Church, in Northern Virginia just outside Washington, DC. We welcome all students
— from junior high through graduate school — to learn with us. We will have a set of activities that parallel the state convention, so students will get the most of the general sessions and specific student-focused activities. For details and to register, please contact Student Division President Corbb O’Connor at corbbo@gmail.com or (202) 684-6130. If finances are tough for you and your family, please let us know. We will work with you to make the convention experience possible. We look forward to seeing you in Falls Church!
5. Minutes from Last NABS Board Meeting:
The NABS board meets by monthly teleconference to discuss and plan upcoming NABS programs and activities. In order to let you be better informed about what we are doing, we decided to start attaching the minutes from each board meeting to the following month’s bulletin, beginning with October. The minutes are attached to this email. If you have any questions or suggestions for items that you’d like us to discuss in future meetings, feel free to write to me directly at Nabs.president@gmail.com