[nabs-l] NABS Notes November 2015

[Hindley Williams]

Fellow Federationists,
Below and attached, you will find this month's edition of the NABS
Notes. Please contact me at hbwilliams16 at gmail.com with any questions,
concerns, or suggestions. Happy reading, and have a wonderful
Thanksgiving!
All Best,
Hindley
NABS Notes November 2015

The National Association of Blind Students --
A proud division of the National Federation of the Blind.

In this edition of the NABS monthly bulletin:

1.	The NFB National Scholarship – APPLY TODAY!
2.	Leading the Way: Grand Canyon Sound Academy
3.	The ins and outs of Mathematics: Upcoming Membership Call
4.	Announcement: State Student Presidents call this Sunday!
5.	State Updates
6.	November NABS Board Meeting Minutes

The NFB National Scholarship – APPLY TODAY!

Are you legally blind?
Do you reside in the United States, the District of Columbia, or Puerto Rico?
Are you pursuing or planning to pursue a full-time, postsecondary
course of study at a U.S. institution in the 2016 scholastic year?
Are you available to attend the entire NFB National Convention in
Orlando, Florida from June 30-July 5, 2016?
Are you eager to meet Federation leaders and network with some of the
brightest, most passionate mentors out there?

If you said yes to all of these questions, then we strongly encourage
you to apply to our 2016 National Scholarship Program!
To recognize achievement by blind scholars, the National Federation of
the Blind annually offers blind college students in the United States
and Puerto Rico the opportunity to win one of thirty merit-based,
national-level scholarships ranging in value of $3,000 to $12,000. All
scholarships awarded are based on academic excellence, community
service, and leadership.
Visit our website at www.nfb.org/scholarships to begin your application!

Remember: applications, along with all necessary documents, must be
submitted no later than March 31, 2016. Do not wait until the end of
February to start gathering additional information and beginning the
online form.

Leading the Way: Grand Canyon Sound Academy

This program is for students who are blind/ visually impaired or fully-sighted.
A group of 20 teenagers from across the U.S. will be selected to
receive scholarships for a once-in-a-lifetime leadership adventure:
Grand Canyon Sound Academy.
Dates: July 24-August 4, 2016
Student Program Fee and Scholarship: In celebration of the National
Park Service’s 100th birthday, the Natural Sounds and Night Skies
Division is providing generous scholarship support. Youth participants
will only be responsible for paying or fundraising a $300 No Barriers
program fee as well as travel costs to/from Phoenix, AZ. (This
reflects a scholarship of $2,700/person).
Selected participants will be expected to fulfill a set of scholarship
requirements before, during, and after the expedition.

TO APPLY: Submit an online application and correlating materials here:
www.nobarriersusa.wufoo.com/forms/2016-leading-the-way-grand-canyon-sound-academy
EARLY APPLICATION DEADLINE: December 4
LATE APPLICATION DEADLINE: January 8, 2016
To learn more, visit www.nobarriersyouth.org/programs/leading__the_way

The Ins and Outs of Mathematics: Upcoming NABS Membership Call

When: Sunday, December 13, 2016
    Time: 7pm eastern
Where: NABS Conference call line
    Dial: 605-475-6700
    Access code: 7869673

Come join us on our December membership call to discuss the ins and
outs of Mathematics with two fabulous guest speakers! Be sure to bring
lots of questions!

State Student Presidents Call this Sunday

When: Sunday, November 29, 2016
  Time: 9pm eastern
Where: NABS conference Call line
    Dial: 605-475-7600
    Access code: 7869673

State student division presidents: NABS wants to hear from you!
Please join us this Sunday for what will be an engaging and
information-filled call!

State Updates

All updates are printed below as they were received from their senders.

Arizona:
Greetings from the Arizona students division! As we approach the
holiday season the Arizona ABS is ramping up for some seasonal fund
raising events. We are constructing holiday gift baskets full of
Christmas favorites such as hot coco, candy canes, seasonal coffee
mugs, and fruit jams amongst other items. We will be auctioning these
baskets during Arizona chapter holiday parties from North Phoenix all
the way down to lower Tucson and everything in between. We are also
planning an awesome event to ring in the New Year’s which will be a
lot of fun and also a great opportunity for membership building! To go
along with all this fun event planning, and fund raising Arizona is
busy putting together a student seminar where we will be looking to
partner with local organizations to introduce upcoming students,
current students, and parents of blind students to the Federation and
let them see all the awesome work we are doing everyday on their
behalf. We are proud to share with you that SAAVI, will be partnering
with the students division by offering their Tucson location for us to
host the seminar. We are looking forward to this holiday season and
all the great work we do together, and as always, through Love Hope
and Determination we change what it means to be blind because we will
live the lives we want!

California:
The California Association of Blind Students is excitedly embarking on
a new chapter, with several new board members: Carla Scroggins
(President), Mary Church (First Vice-President), Miso Kwak (Second
Vice-President), Candace Luther (Secretary), Hoby Wedler (Treasurer),
and board members Tino Benelli and Jimmy Cong. We are very excited to
work together to strengthen and grow both the student division as well
as the Federation.
We had a wonderful time at our state convention in Fremont, CA October
30th – November 1st. Events included a pizza social hosted by CABS, as
well as an inspirational and motivating meeting, including encouraging
and inspiring speeches by our NABS state liaison Garrett Mooney, NFB
of California affiliate President Mary Willows, and immediate past
CABS president Angela Fowler. There was a great turnout of college
students at convention and at our CABS meeting in particular. We are
eager to get to work building our student division and our Federation.
Our first board meeting on Sunday November 15th went very well as we
began the exciting task of building a strong board for a strong
California student division. We look forward to having a lot to report
as our affiliate grows. Wishing everyone a very happy holiday season.

Colorado:
The Colorado Association of Blind Students (CABS) held our annual
business meeting at the NFB of Colorado's state convention on October
31.  We got to hear from our national rep, president Riccobono and our
state president Scott LaBarre on their experiences with the NFB's
student division and their thoughts on student involvement,
leadership, and building the Federation.   NABS president Sean Whalen
called in to give us a NABS update as well.  It was great to have
Learning Ally present on their services and their new college
mentoring program.  A new board was elected with Anna Givens as
president, JJ Aragon as vice president, Nick Thomas as treasurer,
Liliya Asadullina as secretary, and board members Quincie Mattick,
Antonio Rozier, and JJ Duran.
Throughout the convention we sold keychains that we hand made.
We are still doing our NFL football pool fundraiser where people can
win some of the money we raised.
Since the convention we have created a twitter account  @cabslink and
stepped it up on Facebook to do some membership outreach.  We are
looking forward to our end of semester/Christmas celebration that we
are currently planning.  Lastly, we are starting to plan a leadership
seminar to be held in the beginning of the year.  There is much ahead
and we all are looking forward to the coming year.

Connecticut:
The Connecticut Association of Blind Students held its fourth annual
business meeting at the forty-fourth annual National Federation of the
Blind of Connecticut State Convention in November. We had our annual
snack pack fundraiser and were proud to participate in the Legislative
Leadership Workshop co-hosted by the NFB of Connecticut and the
National Association of Blind Students. CTABS Founder and President
Justin Salisbury passed the presidential torch to Brian Martin, of
Stamford, Connecticut, who is a graduate of the Post-secondary
Readiness Empowerment Program (PREP) at BLIND, Inc.

Illinois:
Over Halloween weekend Illinois held its state convention in
Naperville, IL. During the weekend IABS had two fundraisers, a 50/50
raffle as well as a Karaoke night called IABS Idol, as well as a
student luncheon where we were pleased to have our NABS rep Candice
Chapman speak. We also had our yearly IABS business meeting. This year
we elected several new members to serve on the IABS board ranging from
high school students to grad students. Currently IABS is planning a
Student Seminar on April 16th 2016 in Chicago, IL. Last year the
seminar was attended by students in Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana,
Colorado, and Illinois. If any states are interested in attending or
help with planning the student seminar just let me know at
kayteaell at gmail.com .

Kansas:
The Kansas student division is alive and well! This year at our state
convention in Wichita, we had our inaugural business meeting, which
consisted of various speakers including leaders in the affiliate, our
national representative Julie Deden, and our student representative
Hindley Williams. There was a lot of energy at our convention, and we
are excited to recruit new members, and take the ideas that we
brainstormed together and put them into action!

Maryland:
The 2015 convention of the National Federation of the Blind of
Maryland was a truly unforgettable event, and the activities our
student division hosted during the convention were a huge success! On
Friday, over 25 students of all ages and from all walks of life
attended our annual business meeting, greatly exceeding the
expectations of our planning committee. Many of these students also
attended a luncheon we hosted on Saturday afternoon. In both of these
action-packed meetings, we were inspired and energized by such dynamic
presenters as NFBMD President Sharon Maneki, NFB national rep Jeannie
Massay, and NABS national rep Kathryn Webster. We also conducted a
very successful 50-50 raffle, raising $111 for the division thanks
largely to the work of our able fundraising chair, Erin Daring. At our
business meeting we elected an energetic new Board, which consists of
the following leaders:
President: Chris Nusbaum
Vice President: Nathan Clark
Secretary: Ellana Crew
Treasurer: Erin Daring
Board Members: Nesma Aly, Tyron Bratcher, and Alycia Levy
We congratulate these emerging leaders and look forward to the work
MDABS will do under their leadership. Stay tuned for future updates
from Maryland—great things are coming!

Massachusetts:
We, along with our affiliate, attended a listening session with the
Commissioner of the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. He has
asked us to write a self-advocacy toolkit that they can send to
students who call in needing help with inaccessibility at school.
We are also collecting data on what the commission has told students
regarding out of state funding. Apparently some students have been
misinformed or have misunderstood MCB's policies in this area. The
commission would like to further investigate. We have just completed
our list of 90 colleges and universities DSS contact information so we
can disseminate our state and national scholarship applications as
well as publicize our listserv for crowdsourcing accessibility
problems.
Finally, we are working with NFBMA on building a parent, TVI workshop
for convention taking place February 26-28. We are very excited about
this collaboration and hope that we will get a big turnout. We are
offering continuing education credits for the TVIs in attendance.

Nevada:
The Nevada state convention took place in Las Vegas Nevada, the
weekend of October 29–November 1st. It was filled with excitement,
though not much change. At our annual convention business meeting, the
students had the pleasure of hosting Mr. Sachin Pavithran, Whitehouse
appointee and chair of the United States access board, and Mr. Parnell
Diggs, immediate past president of the South Carolina Affiliate,
national representative, and executive director of governmental
affairs. Both distinguished gentlemen congratulated the Nevada
students on our recent outreach success, while reminding us to stay
diligent. There were no elections this year, as the Nevada student
division constitution mirrors the affiliate constitution, which
specifies elections will take place every two-years. Thus, the board
is as follows:
President: Ja’nisha Murphy (Junior, University of Nevada, Las Vegas)
Vice President: Nina Cadillo (sophomore, University of Nevada, Reno)
Secretary: Michael Ausbun (Senior, University of Nevada, Reno)
Treasurer: Ryan McKinney (junior, Truckey Meadows Community College)
At the banquet, several students were acknowledged for their work at a
variety of internships in and around the community. Those students
were Zippora Jones (tutoring blind children), Erik Bergraf (Assistive
technology training), Nina Cadillo (Software and website accessibility
analysis for the University), and Dora Uchel (integrating individuals
into independent living). Next, two students were rewarded
merit-based scholarships; those students were Dora Uchel (Social Work,
University of Nevada, Reno) and Michael Ausbun (Philosophy, University
of Nevada, Reno).
To end the convention, Michael Ausbun was elected to be the Nevada
Affiliate Vice-President, raising the student presence on the
affiliate board to four–Kimmie Beverly (President), Michael Ausbun
(Vice-President), Zappora Jones (Board member), and Dora Uchel (Board
Member). Together with Love, Hope, and Determination, we know that we
can, and will, transform our dreams into reality.

New Jersey:
New Jersey elected a new board at the 39th state convention a couple
of weeks ago. Vee Gaspa as President, Kristie Hong as Vice President,
Sammi Hashash as secretary/treasurer, Jeremy Capati as board member
one, and Hank Miller as board member two. The board is very eager and
had a long brainstorming session the weekend following convention on
their first board conference call. The affiliate is working close with
NJABS as we work to rebuild our division. We are planning a
fund-raiser to take place during the state affiliate’s holiday party
on Jan. 9. More great things to come in the future for NJABS!

New York:
As many of other states, we had our state convention around end of
October. It was held in redison hotel in Albany. there were many
exciting activities in the convention. However, two of the student
meetings had important mark. First one was Friday and we met
informally to get to know each other. On Saturday, we had our business
meeting and our election with a wonderful new young board. Also, a few
guest speakers gave grate words to our new comers. We believe they
were two productive meetings.   I hope you’ll hear from us more in the
future.

North Carolina:
Hello and Happy Thanksgiving fellow Federationist!
The North Carolina Association of Blind Students has been busy during
the month of November! Several of our members are planning on
attending Washington Seminar, and have been preparing themselves and
making plans to do so. Including applying for funding from NABS. There
are also a number of students in North Carolina that will be applying
for the NFB’s National Scholarship! To guide them through the
application process, we will have a member of the scholarship
committee on one of our upcoming calls to answer any questions about
applying. Lastly, we will be launching a very exciting contest on our
December membership call. The purpose of this contest is to motivate
more participation in NCABS through a little friendly competition. For
this contest, points will be awarded to our members when they complete
a variety of tasks. Tasks include attending conference calls, writing
equal access education testimonials, being engaged with us on social
media, and many more! Every three months, the person who has earned
the most points will win a prize! In September of 2016, at our next
State Convention, we will announce our grand prize winner who has
collected the most points over the entire ten month period. So as you
can see, NCABS, is keeping busy and working hard to do our part in
building the federation. Our next conference call will be Sunday
December  8, 2015 at 8:00. Call (712) 432-3900 and enter the access
code 3866158 to join us for our last call of 2015!
Best wishes to all students approaching the end the semester, finish strong!

Pennsylvania:
The Pennsylvania Association of Blind Students is at the threshold of
some very exciting new events and opportunities. A new board now
serves this student division: Hindley Williams (President), Lily
Asadullina (Vice-President), Lizzy Muhammad (Secretary), Jason
Polansky (Treasurer), and India Scott (Board Member). At the historic
convention in Wilkes-Barre this year, we heard from some inspiring
speakers, including our national president Mr. Riccobono, got to know
one another better, and have already started making plans and taking
action. Check out our Facebook group by searching “PABS,” and stay
tuned for more PABS activity! Much is on the horizon as we recruit new
members, plan a seminar, and live out a positive philosophy of
blindness as students.

Texas:
Howdy from the great state of Texas. On the weekend of November 13-15
we had a successful and exciting state convention in Austin, Texas. We
had several students in participation at our convention. Onn Friday
evening, we held the annual business meeting of the Texas Association
of Blind students. The meeting was full of energy. We had some great
presentations about NFB-Newsline®, being a student teacher, being a
mentor in STEM 2U, landing an internship, and so much more. Before
elections, Gabe Cazares delivered the 2015 presidential report. TABS
has certainly been busy over these past few years, and we can’t wait
to continue the work of changing what it means to be a blind student.
At the end of our business meeting, we held our elections. This has
been a time of transition for TABS. Gabe is now successfully employed
and has stepped down from the presidency. We would like to thank him
for his six years on the TABS board, of which three of those years he
was president.
The election results are as followed:
President: Bre Brown
First vice President: Daniel Martinez
Second Vice President: Kayleigh Joiner
Secretary: Harley fetterman
Treasurer: Jonathan Franks
Board member I: Sal villa
Board member II: Tony McKinney
We are looking forward to another great year in TABS!

Virginia:
During Halloween weekend, the Virginia affiliate held its annual state
convention. This convention was a great success for student division,
especially the fundraisers. We had 2 fundraisers: a bake sale and
jailbreak. Both were successful. We raised over $400 with the two
fundraisers. The affiliate absolutely loved the jailbreak fundraiser,
and were very enthusiastic about handcuffing leaders in the
federation.  In addition to successful fundraisers, the student
division helped facilitate a youth track, which consisted of a
mobility lesson on the Metro, breaking boards, and philosophy
discussions. On Saturday afternoon, VABS held its annual business
meeting and conducted elections. Sarah Patnaude, president of VABS for
the past two years, did not seek re-election. With that, our new
president is Kim Valko, who previously held the position of vice
president. Kierra Davis is our vice president; Jen Shields as our
secretary/treasurer; Reed Haney as board member 1; and Robert Parsons
as board member 2. VABS is looking forward to another exciting year!

Washington:
Washington State officially created a student division on October 31st
2015 during the Washington State Convention of the National Federation
of the Bind. We are very excited to get started planning events, and
are looking forward to building the organization. This new division
has the following officers; President: Hannah Werbel, Vic President:
Lark Braun, Secretary:  Tracie Tonasket, and Treasurer: Tasha Budnik.
We are also pleased to announce that Tracie Tonasket and Abby Griffith
were this year's state scholarship winners. The new student division
in Washington State is here and is ready to begin recruiting new
members and to begin changing lives.

Wisconsin:
Greetings from the state of Wisconsin! We are currently working on
planning two fundraisers for Washington Seminar which consist of
having a bake sale at Lighthouse Church in Madison, WI in the month of
December and a bowl-a-thon at Village Lanes in city of Monona, WI in
early January. We are also planning on teaming up with the Wisconsin
Parents of Blind Children division to go on a sleigh ride at Redridge
ranch in Mauston, WI as a student activity sometime in February.

November NABS Board Meeting Minutes
National Association of Blind Students

Board Meeting Minutes
November 15, 2015

Meeting called to order at 9:06 p.m.

Members Present:

Sean Whalen (President)
Candice Chapman (1st Vice President)
Bre Brown (2nd Vice President)
Kathryn Webster (Secretary/Treasurer)
James Garret Mooney (Board Member 2)
Michael Ausbun (Board Member 4)

Treasurer’s Report:
Checking account: 5217.78
Savings account: 1230.57
Awaiting Karen’s check from January’s auction.

Committee Reports

    Communications: Bre
Blog is up for November.
Alex Anderson will be writing a reflection on the student Legislative
Leadership Workshop.
Hindley will be sending out a call for state updates early this week.

    Fundraising: Kathryn
Share the gofundme page all over social media! www.gofundme.com/blindstudents
We have raised over $2,000; and we are nearing the last week to meet our goal.
Chipotle fundraiser in California will take place in early January
with the help of Angela Fowler.
Applebee’s fundraiser in Ruston, LA will take place in mid-January
with the help of Syed and David of LCB.
Funding application to assist students in attending Washington Seminar
is out. Applications are due Sunday, November 22.
Please let your states know.

    Legislative: Sean
Really successful Legislative Leadership Workshop held in Connecticut
on November 7.
Follow-up materials and notes will be sent out to all participants
early this week.
Legislative Committee actively participated in Twitter Thursday by
pushing the Marrakesh Treaty.
We are still collecting letters for equal access to education. Please
encourage your states to write!

    Membership: Candice and Garret
There was a successful membership call to introduce the new NABS Board.
The December Membership call will take place during the first two
weeks of December. Guest speakers include Erich Guillory of LCB and
John Miller, President of the National Science and Engineering
Division.
Database project is starting so we can increase our mass membership
list. Please collect membership directories from your states.

    Website: Kathryn
Please send Kathryn student president updates as soon as you are aware of them!
Bre and Kathryn are working on creating a scholarship page within our homepage.

State Updates

Candice, Bre, and Kathryn will briefly update the Board on their states.
The last three weeks have been full of student division transitions.

Candice:
Oregon: convention two weeks ago; hoping to have a student division
revitalized.
Missouri: will reach out to affiliate president
Minnesota: New president; recruitment event coming soon
Mississippi: some recruitment projects in the works
Florida: planning for their Convention in January

Bre:
Texas: great Convention this past weekend; Bre is president
West Virginia: searching for student to write an equal access to
education testimony
Louisiana: student seminar a few weeks ago with Bre in attendance;
30-35 participants
New Jersey: new president (Vee Gaspa)
New York: student gathering and lunch at convention; NABS Rep was Bre;
state-wide board instead of all in NYC
Delaware: new affiliate president; hoping to start a student division shortly.
North Dakota: not much happening there; will try to increase contact

Kathryn:
Connecticut: new student president (Brian Martin ;) Kathryn was at
Convention weekend of November 6
North Carolina: new student president (Bobbi Pompey ;) Kathryn was at
convention late September, as was Sean Whalen as NABS Rep; young,
vibrant, new board!
Massachusetts: Derek Manners is now Legislative Director (will help
collect letters ;) Convention last week of February; may invite NABS
Rep; students met with DORS counselor to discuss current policies and
potential additions; implementing a self-advocacy tool kit
Virginia: new president (Kimberly Valko;) Kathryn was in attendance;
great fundraisers; planning to have a summer Blow-Out event
DC: no student division yet; Convention was weekend of October 15
Kentucky: gathering students for Washington Seminar
Tennessee: working to get lots of letters!
South Dakota: need to pinpoint a future student leader

New Business:

Washington Seminar planning:
Sean will talk to President Riccobono about when we should hold our
annual auction.
Fundraising committee will brainstorm ideas for events/fundraisers for
Wash Sem and bring final thoughts to the board for a vote.
Sean will appoint a committee to plan the logistics of our Winter
Seminar; let Sean know if interested in helping. Kathryn, Hindley,
Candice, Bre, and Michael expressed interest.
Bringing back the student president luncheon on Monday, January 25
after the Winter Seminar.
Students are encouraged to attend the Legislative Training at 1pm on
Monday, January 25. Those receiving funding from NABS are required to
attend.

Meeting adjourned at 10:18 p.m.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions,
concerns or suggestions. The NABS Board works for you, and we want to
know how we’re doing! Thanks for reading, and we’ll be back in
December.

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.


-- 
Hindley Williams
hbwilliams16 at gmail.com
(443) 823-0867
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