[nabs-l] The role of a student division?

[Arielle Silverman]

Hi all,

Technically anybody can join the National Association of Blind
Students and its state affiliates, regardless of student or blindness
status. The only requirement to become a member of NABS and any of its
state divisions is the payment of dues. So there's no reason why
non-students can't join your student division and have all the rights
of any other members such as voting and serving on committees. The
only complication comes with who is eligible to run for office. Every
state student division has different rules about that depending on
your size and the sentiments of your leadership. Some state student
divisions require all their officers and board members to be students,
while others only require the president and vice-presidents to be
blind students.

When I was president of the Arizona student division we were always
relatively small, so we allowed non-students to hold the secretary,
treasurer, and board member positions but mandated that the president
and vice-presidents be students. We always had a couple of
non-students on the board as well as several in our membership ranks
and this was a great thing for AABS. The non-students were glad to
assist with fund-raising, recruitment and other division management
tasks and I also think they got a lot out of our seminars and
networking events, especially those who were planning to go back to
school. These days, a sizeable portion of youth (including blind
youth) are in transition from high school to college or college to
grad school and it's becoming more common to take some time off and
work or get blindness training during this period. So including
non-students in your events can still be valuable for them. There's
also a lot of blind young people who may not believe they are able to
get a higher education. What better way to inspire, motivate, and
mentor them than through a state student division and through NABS?

Arielle

On 5/22/09, Angela fowler <fowlers at syix.com> wrote:
> Jim, I like the way you think.
> 	Now, before I get myself in trouble by supporting this idea, let me
> say that his state's situation is different than say... Mine in California.
> He's in a very rural state with I presume very few chapters scattered around
> a large area. In California there are many chapters with diverse membership,
> so the question isn't so clear but in Jim's case I think its very clear. We
> need to give these 20-somethings something to relate too.
> 	Now Jim says that his local chapter is composed primarily of folks
> 30 years older than himself, folks in their 50's. A group needs to be
> started in that area which makes the younger folks feel at home. Since
> younger folks identify more with their student days, why not start with
> MABS?
> 	Trust me, when the non-student group of people under 30 gets strong
> enough they will break away from MABS and either form their own chapter or
> join the one that already exists. Student groups focus on college related
> stuff, and a non-student can't relate, believe me I've been there. Jim is in
> a situation however, where he needs to give them some place to start, and
> the logical place is MABS.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Jim Reed
> Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2009 11:10 AM
> To: NABS mail list
> Subject: [nabs-l] The role of a student division?
>
> Hello all,
>
> I just had dinner with the Montana State affiliate President, and he
> admitted to me that one of his motivations for begining a student division
> is to serve as a way to recruit young people into the MAB/NFB.
>
> Keeping that goal in mind, I began thinking, "How best can MABS accomplish
> the goal of recruiting younger members into the MAB/NFB?"
>
> It seems to me that one of the best ways to accomplish that goal would be to
> open the student division up to non-students. For example, there are
> probably alot (I use the term losely) of blind people in Montana who are my
> age (27), and are not students.
>
> Along those same lines, I went to my first chapter meeting not to long ago,
> and the average age ot those attending was probably 30 years older than me.
> Because of this demographic situation, I have no desire to attend another
> chapter meeting, and I assume others my age will feel the same way.
> (However,  because I am MABS President, I feel obligated to attemd those
> meetings, and will continue to do so.)
>
> My point is that most people my age are not going to be a division
> president, thus are not "obligated" to attend chapter meeting, thus they
> probably wont. How do we reach out to this demographic? I believe we reach
> out to this demographic be somehow making it so that young persons (students
> or not), can work, and interact with blind persons their own age. Via a
> "young persons division?" I'm not sure;  I don't want to create any
> age-related conflict within the state affiliate.
>
> It seems to me that since the student population is small, MABS could
> increase its membership and strive towards achiving the goal of the state
> affiliate President by expanding its membership to younger folks who are not
> students.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Jim
>
> Homer Simpson's brain: "Use reverse psychology."
>  Homer: "Oh, that sounds too complicated."
>  Homer's brain: "Okay, don't use reverse psychology."
>  Homer: "Okay, I will!"
>
>
>
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