[nabs-l] NABS Elections: Sean Whalen for President

[Sean Whalen]

Good morning NABS,

As I already know many of you, I feel kind of funny writing to introduce
myself, but, alas, that is what I am doing.

My name is Sean Whalen, and I am writing to share a brief outline of what I
would like to see happen with NABS over the next term. And, ultimately, I
hope to convince you to give me your vote for a 1 year term as NABS
President on Monday July 4, 2011 at the NABS business meeting.

I am a 2007 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and currently
work as an education and disabilities lobbyist in Washington DC. I have been
working with the Law School Admissions Council for nearly two years to take
the LSAT using JAWS, which I will finally be allowed to do this fall. This
fall, I will also be enrolled in language classes at the local NOVA
Community college, in order to allow me to do a semester abroad in law
school. I will be a student in fall 2011, though only part-time as I work,
prepare for the LSAT and apply to schools.

Why do I want your vote for NABS President?

I am proud of the progress that NABS has made over the last two years under
the leadership of Arielle Silverman, and with the help of a strong Board. I
feel that I have the leadership, delegating, and organizational skills to
continue to improve and strengthen NABS. I want to work collaboratively with
state student divisions and state affiliates. I am also encouraged by, and
would like to continue to increase, collaborative efforts between NABS and
the Parents Division. Please read on for more specific ideas, but please
keep in mind, these are only my thoughts, and if I were to be elected
President, I would love to hear any and all feedback from anybody, on or off
the Board.

I have actively volunteered with NABS since 2005, but here is what I
prioritized, and got done, as 2nd Vice President in the last term:

 	Worked with Karen Anderson to put out 8 quarterly issues of the
Student Slate.
 	Worked with Darian Smith to amend the NABS Constitution to stagger
elections to a 5/4 split.
 	Conceived of Pennies for Pages fundraiser, and ran it in conjunction
with Karen Anderson and Nijat Worley. The effort raised thousands of
dollars.
 	Traveled to 7 state conventions and 1 state student seminar to
present on behalf of NABS.
 	Worked with Meghan Whalen to redesign NABS' website.
 	Wrote Imagination Grant application and secured $2600 to fund our
NABS Reps program.
 	Attended and presented on Membership Committee and state division
conference calls.
 	Tried to serve as a resource to fellow students on the NABS list.

As you can see, I get things done, and I am able to work well with others to
do so.

While I am generally pleased with the work we have done since 2009, I think
that our division can be strengthened by focusing on three things:
communication, collaboration and accountability. Keep those three themes in
mind as you read the following description of how things might be set up:

I think that the Committee system NABS is using is great. I think it would
be useful to give some of the committees more clearly defined structure,
with certain roles for certain individuals on the committee. I also think it
would be beneficial to have more folks from off the board on the committees,
to help with cohesiveness. Imagine the committees and their duties were to
be broken up like this:

Membership Committee: 4 Members
Committee Chair (Communicates with membership on lists and runs monthly
membership calls. Maintains list of paid NABS members.)
Social Media Chair: (Keeps NABS up to date on twitter, Facebook, etc.)
Recruitment Chair: (Focuses on bringing new students into NABS and the NFB.)
High School Chair: (Focuses on outreach to high school students.)

Student Slate: 4 Members
Committee Chair: (Responsible for the overall publication of the quarterly
newsletter.)
Chief Editor: (Primarily responsible for editing content.)
Content Chair: (Responsible for identifying and attaining articles for
publication.)
Distribution Chair: (Responsible for growing the readership of the Slate and
maintaining list of subscribers.)

These are just examples, but I think the specific assigning of duties to a
position makes it a lot easier to hold somebody accountable for getting the
job done.

While accountability is a big deal, I don't think it is the whole issue. I
think NABS ought to have closer ties with the state student divisions, as
well as with the other divisions of the NFB.

I would propose instituting a quarterly conference call for state division
presidents, or their delegates, where the state and national leadership
could share ideas, make plans, and have an open discussion on how best to
work together.

I think we need a specific student point of contact in each state, and NABS
needs to be better about keeping that contact info up to date and at
reaching out to the various states.

I am a big proponent of the idea that Darian and others are kicking around
about building a list of all DSS offices, TBVIs, schools for the blind,
etc., basically a list of all the places to find blind students. An effort
such as this would have to be coordinated and nationally, but with the
proper organization could yield extremely valuable information. This is just
one example of the potential benefit of closer ties between state divisions
and NABS.

As I mentioned above, I am very supportive of working with parents of blind
kids. Parents have the greatest impact on their children's lives, so nothing
is more important than educating parents on how vital it is that they raise
their children with expectations. I have spoken to a couple of groups of
parents, and am scheduled to do so again in Orlando. I would like to look
for more opportunities for NABS to work with the Parents, as well as with
the NFB at large and its education programs in particular.

I believe that NABS is stronger now than it was two years ago, and I would
like the opportunity to continue to work to improve our division and
strengthen the NFB. I would ask that you consider some of my suggestions,
ask questions or make suggestions of your own, and give me your vote on
Monday July 4. Working together we can continue to build a brighter future
for all blind students!

Thanks,

Sean Whalen