[Ctabs] Minutes for January 8th Call Re: NFB Scholarship Program

[Ivy Wanta]

Minutes
Call to Order: 9:08PM
In Attendance:
Kathryn Webster, Ivy Wanta, Trevor Attenberg, Hamit Campos, Patti Chang

Recitation of the Federation pledge
Treasurer's Report: no news, will have more to report at the next call.
Introduction of Patti Chang, the chair of the National Scholarship
Committee for the NFB. Patti encouraged us to promote the scholarship, and
gave us an overview of the scholarship program and the necessary
qualifications, namely that you must attend the entire national convention
(to receive the full benefits of being matched with different mentors from
the committee every day), you must attend an accredited university, you
must be a resident of the United States, and you must be legally blind.
She then spoke about the application itself, encouraging use of the online
application. She stressed the importance of the essay in the application,
highlighting that the essay should include anything that must be explained
in your application, your techniques for adaptation to your visual
impairment, and your leadership potential. The application should also
include proof of blindness and good recommendation letters, form people who
know you well.
Patti then answered some of our questions, clarifying that applicants do
not need to be members of the NFB prior to their application time, and also
that the committee looks much more at the attitude of the applicant towards
blindness than the skills that they already possess.
Once Patti left, we talked amongst ourselves about our scholarship
experiences. We talked about our favorite things about convention. This
included:
-The people you meet and their willingness to share their experiences and
advice and contact information.
-The ability to interact with large numbers of successful blind people, and
how that increases our own confidence, comfort level, and expectations for
ourselves.
-The mentors!

Adjournment 9:59PM
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