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It’s that time of the year. Just as we start to think about turkey and stuffing with cranberries, it’s time for blind kids in the area to get hands-on with shark innards!

As he has for more than a decade, will lead a shark dissection at CCB on Friday, November 18. Harrison has partnered with CCB to ensure that blind kids in Colorado get actual experience in this one aspect of the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). Participants will handle the scalpels, determine sex, examine the lungs, liver and those sharp little dog shark teeth.

Start time is 10 a.m. on Friday and wraps up at 1 p.m. following pizza (no anchovies).

Students, teachers, or parents can contact Youth Services Director Brent Batron for more information or to reserve a spot – after all, there are only going to be so many sharks!

Got about 20 minutes to be wowed?

We’re just back from our 2016 Convention in Lone Tree from October 27 to 30. All staff and students attended and, since we’re an NFB training center (the NFB of Colorado started the Center in 1988), Executive Director Julie Deden always makes a report the the entire convention about all that’s happened in the last year. It’s always a highlight of an affiliate convention that is full of highlights.

This year Julie’s report included this video of 2016 highlights and retrospective of our graduates this year. But you’ll have to wait till the end for the really, really cool part …

The culmination of the Summer Program each year is of course the awarding of certificates and the talent show. Before that can happen, however, the masses must be fed. The summer students and their instructors draw on their collective learning in the kitchen over the summer and cook a meal for as many as 120 guests. All ITP staff and students, summer staff and students, parents and summer employers are invited.

If you didn’t get to test the meal for yourself, you can get an idea how it turned out watching the video:

Not only did we say good-bye to our 24 summer students in the past week, we also saw the departure of two friends and colleagues who’ve been with us for much of July.

We’ve been excited to host Kimie Beverly as a student for the past three weeks. Kimie is President of the National Federation of the ������ of Nevada and a past NFB Scholarship recipient. Sunday she flies to Baltimore where she starts on Monday working at our National Center for the ������ on legislative initiatives such as the .

Americans with disabilities relegated to the injustice and indignity of subminimum wages have a new champion in Kimie Beverly! It’s been great to have you with us Kimie!

Hard to believe our summer programs are coming to an end. Today summer Earn & Learn students are finishing up their 40-hour internships across the Metro area. Not only do they gain valuable work experience – for some it’s their first paid job – but they travel independently to their job sites on foot and by public transportation. Jobs include retail, reception, food service, checking web accessibility, radio production in Boulder, child care and all the chores at a riding stable, among others. 

Christina, Keaton and Marie are working as interns for our long-time partners, this summer. In fact, it’s Marie’s second year in our summer program and working at The Right Step. Their work includes cleaning stalls, cleaning old horse shoes to be reused, cleaning tack and taking care of the horses.

This morning they cleaned tack and then helped put up new Braille labels in the tack room. That’s the subject of this short video.

As an FYI, each horse has its own bag with its very own curry comb and brush, halter, lead rope and hoof pick.

is a therapeutic riding program and the first of its kind in the U.S. to have Braille – not just in the tack room, but on the horses’ stalls too!

Twenty-four blind and visually-impaired Front Range youth spent the weekend of April 22-24 in Estes Park. It had been planned as a snow-shoe trip, but instead the kids and 9 adults took a 6-and-a-half mile hike in Rocky Mountain Park.

Whew! So this is the way this week has been – really, the entire month!

A small but dedicated cadre of staff and students went out for a good hike on Sunday at Mt. Falcon near Morrison, and just to the south of Red Rocks. Like rock climbing and our Urban Adventures program, we partnered with the National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD) on the hike, which was 6.4 miles round trip, and rising from 6000 feet to 7500 feet in elevation.

Monday certain students attended a Boomers’ Career Fair. We don’t need to call out the attendees by name.

Pipi is teaching a sewing class on Monday afternoons, and they made a trip to get materials this week for their projects.

Ann Cunningham had a room full of artists later Monday afternoon, chiseling and filing and having a great time.

Tuesday Group 3 went rock climbing at El Dorado Canyon with NSCD.

The Summer Youth Programs for 2015 ended July 29 with a talent show, and this fitting finale dedicated to Youth Services Director Brent Batron:

It’s the last week of July, and at the ������ we’re fighting the feeling that summer is almost over. We know that there are still weeks of hot weather, lovely warm Colorado evenings to enjoy.

But that vague anxiety is fueled as the last week of July saw our 22 summer students graduating on Wednesday, cleaning and packing on Thursday and leaving on Friday. Many of them are starting school in the first week of August. For them, summer truly is about over.

From Shay: Here at the airport, waiting to go home. Thinking about this summer, and how great it was. I met a lot of really amazing people this summer that have really help me and challenge me to do the best that I could. I am leaving here with so much. New friendships, amazing memories, and The ability to do more than I ever thought I could. I will never forget the memories or the people I met this summer. hope to come back next summer and to see all of you sometime again.