[nabs-l] Washington Seminar/Blind Driver Challenge Questions

Sun Dec 5 08:25:51 UTC 2010

You could go to Daytona and then travel from Florida to D.C. Sunday
night. A lot of people are doing that. That being said, in my opinion,
if you are forced to choose 1, i would choose Washington Seminar. I am
biased, but it is a really powerful experience, and I beg borrow and
steal my way there every year.

Although you seem hesitant about your travel skills, i believe that
experience will do nothing but help. If nothing else, you will gain a
clearer prospective of the areas in which you need work. I have done
lots of networking and made tons of great friends through seminar, and
I feel like I am really contributing to accomplishing something
through the appointments. But definitely get with your affiliate.
While you interact with everyone during the student seminar and at
night, you will attend appointments set by your affiliate, and you
want to be sure and let them know you're going, so they can include
you in the schedule and help you learn the issues beforehand.

Cindy

On 12/5/10, Kerri Kosten <kerrik2006 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Arielle and All:
>
> Oh neat, so with the student seminar being held on Monday it would be
> possible for me to attend all of these events...
>
> I know since it is the first one, you or anyone else may not know, but
> will there be marshalls and such like at Washington seminar for the
> Daytona event?
>
> I will definitely talk to my state president before making any
> official plans but I thought I'd ask on here my general questions
> initially.
>
> For the daytona event should I go as far as to contact Anil Lewis and
> ask my questions about travel or should I just go for it and not worry
> about not having the greatest travel skills?
>
> Since you have pretty much cleared up my concerns about Washington
> Seminar Arielle and told me to not be worried, I'm just now wondering
> about Daytona...should I just go for it if I want to go or would I be
> in over my head going to that? Again I just don't want to embarrass
> myself or look like a fool in terms of not knowing where to go or what
> to do. If there are people around however I should be fine.
>
> Kerri
>
> On 12/5/10, Arielle Silverman <nabs.president at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi Kerri and all,
>>
>> The student seminar will be on Monday, Jan. 31. We will have a welcome
>> breakfast for new students followed by our seminar from 9:00-3:30.
>> After that will be the Great Gathering-In meeting, where everyone
>> assembles to learn about the legislative issues we will be discussing.
>> Then legislative appointments will be on Tuesday, Wednesday, and
>> Thursday.
>>
>> I don't know anything about the Blind Driver Challenge (obviously
>> haven't been to it before since this is the first time) but I'll say
>> Washington Seminar is probably easier than convention, so if you
>> enjoyed convention you won't have anything to worry about. The hotel
>> is smaller, and our group is smaller (approximately 500 people instead
>> of 3000). As with convention, there will be marshals and hotel staff
>> able to give  directions, and most of the activities are held in the
>> same room (the Columbia Ballroom) so you should be able to start
>> learning the route there a lot faster than you would at convention.
>> And everyone will be going to the same place.
>>
>> During the legislative visits, you will travel with the others from
>> your affiliate. You should talk to your state president to find out
>> who else is going and see if there is any financial assistance
>> available to help cut the hotel costs. You can just stick with the
>> other people from your affiliate when you travel around the Capitol
>> building. Of course it's possible your  affiliate might get lost, but
>> you won't be alone!
>>
>> I would say we definitely see all skill levels at Washington Seminar,
>> just like convention, and I myself attended three Washington Seminars
>> and several conventions before I went to a training center. So if you
>> want to go, I'd say go! The biggest issue, I think, is potentially
>> missing school. Sometimes when I can't afford to miss a lot of school,
>>  I will only attend the NABS portion of the seminar, returning home on
>> Tuesday instead of on Thursday or Friday. You are welcome to attend
>> just the Daytona activities, just the student seminar, just the
>> legislative meetings, or two or all three of these. I think you will
>> enjoy it.
>>
>> Arielle
>>
>> On 12/4/10, Kerri Kosten <kerrik2006 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Hi All:
>>>
>>> Considering how well convention ended up going and how successful I've
>>> been with travel recently, I hate to even post these questions but I
>>> figured I better anyway.
>>>
>>> I am considering (and as of now I'm just considering, haven't made any
>>> official plans or anything yet) going to Washington Seminar and the
>>> Blind Driver Challenge events at the end of January.
>>>
>>> I would like to try to do both but I know the Blind Driver challenge
>>> event ends on Sunday, Jan. 30, and the Washington Seminar begins the
>>> next day on Jan. 31.
>>>
>>> First, when is the student seminar?
>>>
>>> Are any other students planning on going to both events or are most of
>>> you just picking one or the other to attend?
>>>
>>> Do you need to have great travel skills to attend either one or both
>>> of these events or is it like convention where all skill levels are
>>> present?
>>>
>>> For Washington seminar, I know there aren't as many people as at
>>> convention but is it a similar atmosphere where there are tons of
>>> people around if assistance is needed or is everyone busy in their own
>>> little group/state delegation?
>>>
>>> Before convention I worried that if I needed something or assistance
>>> and everyone was busy doing their own thing there wouldn't be anyone
>>> around, however I quickly found out there were tons of people around,
>>> and if you were lost somebody came up to you pretty quickly and asked
>>> if you needed assistance...will it be similar at these events?
>>>
>>> I really really want to attend either both or one of these events, if
>>> I had to pick one over the other I'd like to go to Washington seminar
>>> but if I can squeeze both in I'd like to...however just like for
>>> convention I'm a little unsure/nervous...similarly to convention am I
>>> worrying for nothing or should I wait and attend Washington Seminar
>>> after aquiring better blindness skills?
>>>
>>> Hope I am not out of line posting these questions...like I said at
>>> this point I am only considering possibly going, and may not even
>>> go...
>>>
>>> I've been told Washington seminar is a great and very powerful
>>> experience but I don't want to get in too far over my head and end up
>>> making a fool out of myself.
>>>
>>> Both of these events sound really exciting and I think would be really
>>> fun to go to though...
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Kerri
>>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Arielle Silverman
>> President, National Association of Blind Students
>> Phone:  602-502-2255
>> Email:
>> nabs.president at gmail.com
>> Website:
>> www.nabslink.org
>>
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-- 
Cindy Bennett
uNC Wilmington Psychology major

clb5590 at gmail.com
828.989.5383