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

[Courtney Stover]

Sean,

This is a phenomenal, articulate post!

I am exceedingly impressed by your clear, specific goals for the
organization, and the fact that you've clearly thought through how to
implement them.  Not only do you have a wishlist, which is great, but
you clearly know how to turn I Want in to I accomplished.  And that
matters a lot because if wishes were horses, beggars would ride
y'know?  You've not only got to have the horse, but know how to ride
it.

I particularly liked your thoughts on a couple of things.  Firstly:
the committees...all right, that's partially because I'm rather
covetting the position of chief editor for the slate committee *grin*
But it's also because you clearly know how to utalize people's
talents.  Some people are better at editing, while others are great at
soliciting content, as just one example.  So, rather than stepping in
to a committee and then struggling to fit all your disperate talents
together and produce something spectacular, while also factoring in
differences in personality and work styles, you're merely factoring in
the second two, and things go much more smoothly.

As an example of why this is so important, I'm thinking of my high
school student council board.  My high school board was not organized
well; one of the biggest conflicts we had was secretarial work.  Three
or four people would take notes, and then one or two days before they
were due for submission to our principal, they'd throw them in my lap
and be all: make this look presentable.  So, I ended up with loads of
unnecessary work because there were not clearly defined roles, and I
think this is one thing slightly hampering the committees now.

Let me say right off that I adore the membership calls; I think
they're informative and well moderated.  However, oftentimes, we get
multiple messages from multiple people reminding us of the call.  It
would be great if, like in Sean's suggestion, there was one go to
person for the list.  Immediately, when you saw their name in your
inbox, you'd sit up and pay attention because this was membership
related.

The second point I'm incredibly impressed with is your collaboration
with NOPBC.  When I was first introduced to the NFB, because there
wasn't much collaboration between Nabs and the parents, I was simply
given the contact for my chapter President.  That turned out to be a
very good thing, as I required loads of advocation that only someone
extremely well-versed in the system could have provided.

However, I would have loved a larger social network of blind students;
it would have been fantastic to also be handed a contact for a Nabs
board member, who could have shown me the ropes as far as the list and
given me convention tips.

I was extremely fortunate and gained such a person through Dominique
Lawless's intervention, but we rather stumbled in to one another
accidentally; it would have been great to have someone like that from
the get go.

Thank you for such a thoughtful, informative post; may the odds be in
your favor on July 4th!
Courtney

On 6/18/11, Briley Pollard <brileyp at gmail.com> wrote:
> Shawn,
>
> Thanks for the post. It is good to know what you've done as a member of the
> board and specifics about what you want to do to improve the division. I
> particularly liked the idea about having members have specific roles on a
> committee. I'd like to see this type of run down from others who are
> interested in running. That way when it comes time to vote, it is less of a
> "I know that person's name" game.
>
> Best,
> Briley
> On Jun 18, 2011, at 9:09 AM, Sean Whalen wrote:
>
>> 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
>>
>>
>>
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