������

Editor’s Note: In the fall we invited blind Colorado high school students to apply for our first-ever scholarship to attend the ’s annual . 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 .

Our long-time art instructor and national leader in tactile access to art and science Ann Cunningham was in the artists’ make-a-space at the Denver Art Museum (DAM) in February. A group from the ������ visited DAM and Ann’s exhibit and art-making on February 9. The collaboration between DAM and Ann caught the attention of others, resulting in this episode of the popular podcast, “Eyes on Success” – an interview by podcasters Peter Torpey and Nancy Goodman Torpey of Ann and folks at DAM.

Listen to the episode here:

March 9 will be Movie Night And our next FAST Friday at the ������ – our monthly activity for blind youth and their families. We’ll kick the evening off with pizza, then watch the documentary film, It follows four California high school students who are blind as they strive to follow their dreams. 1 hr 14 min with audio description. Popcorn provided. Discussion will follow.

April 13 will be Contact the Astronomy Constellations! we’ll have Arapahoe Community College Astronomy Instructor Jennifer Jones and her students work with us to understand the night sky, stars, constellations and everything! The evening will feature dozens of tactile graphics and 3D representations. The time will be determined, so stay tuned.

We wanted to bring your attention to a couple of newspaper articles that appeared in November and brought attention to the Center. Both reflect great partnerships that help us ensure that our students can, as our tag line says, learn to “Take Charge with Confidence and Self-reliance!”

The first, from November 5, appeared in the Denver Post’s YourHub. It’s about our neighbor and partner, in downtown Littleton. The article isn’t about the Center, but it features one of our students who has been learning job skills there. For a number of years, we’ve counted on Angel Concept to also mentor one of our summer youth in the “Earn & Learn Program”, helping them gain valuable work experience.

Here’s the article by YourHubs Holly Graham:

Our alum Poonam Vaidya of Bangalore was recently part of a BBC World Service radio episode of “The Conversation.” She spoke about blindness with another guest, a blind attorney from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Shortly afterward, the BBC posted this short video of Poonam. Check it out:

Last Monday our student J.D. couldn’t wait to report his big news.

“Good news isn’t as good if you can’t tell someone,” he said at morning announcements.

He went on to tell us that he had been named Editor of the Colorado Fire Fighter, the newsletter of the Colorado State Fire Fighters Association (CSFFA). His increasing skill and confidence with nonvisual access to computers and the Internet permit him to put his native skills in writing and editing to work on the CSFFA newsletter.

J.D. was a volunteer fire fighter in northeastern Colorado for many years before becoming blind a year and a half ago, and is still strongly dedicated to the CSFFA and the work its members do across the state.

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:

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

We want to call your attention to this excellent article by Catherine Kudlick, a 2000 CCB grad,

It was published in the on May 24 as part of its series. The Times says: “Disability is a weekly series of essays, art and opinion by and about people living with disabilities.”

Kudlick is a Professor of History at San Francisco State.

You hear from us all the time about what’s going on at the Center, so here’s a chance to get a student’s story from the very first.

Graham arrived in Denver from Brooklyn in mid-October, and he’s been blogging each week about his time at the Center for his friends back home and wherever. Check out his blog, .

9News will be with us at the Center for Colorado Gives Day tomorrow morning! Our long-time collaboration with National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD) will be spotlighted between 5:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. on 9News. The NSCD Moves obstacle course will be featured in a couple of segments, with Center students and staff in action!

Be sure to tune in tomorrow morning to see NSCD and the Center, and don’t forget to make a donation on