[nabs-l] Transitioning to college or training center and being almost a senior in high school

[Ellana Crew]

Hi Mikayla,

Firstly, I want to say that I'm glad that you've already started thinking about this now and are putting some serious thought into the decision. It's definitely good to consider the timing of your training and weigh the pros and cons of waiting we're going sooner.

I really love what Anna said about it just making sense to go to training first, because college is an environment that requires a lot of skills and independence, and going to training only sets you back one year, and with the wide range of diversity in college campuses, being one year older then you may have been if you did not go to training first really doesn't make a difference and you'll likely find a good mix of peers all within a handful of years around your age regardless. Especially at community college, most of your classes will already be mostly people of very close but slightly different ages and likely with several people of very different ages, so if you decide to go to training first, you definitely won't stick out as the one slightly older student in the class. With only one year setting you back, your peers won't even know the difference.

Like you, I personally decided to start out at community college instead of going straight to four-year university. When I was in high school, I didn't see a need for training before college, so after I graduated, I went straight into my first semester of community school. Unfortunately, this did not go very well for me. I learned the hard way during that first year of classes that there was still a lot of work that needed to be done and a lot of skills, confidence, and independence that needed to be gained before I was going to really be successful in college. It was so much different from high school and I was really not prepared for it. After my second, very rough semester, I finally decided to take a gap year from school and go to training, end it was definitely exactly what I needed. The training center I went to even had a college prep program, which allowed you to enroll in a class or two at the local community school at the same time as training so that you could experience your first semester of college while surrounded by your instructors who could help you learn to navigate situations as they arose.

I recently graduated from my training center a couple of months ago and I am back in school at the community school at home, and it has made a world of a difference and enable me to be much, much more successful. It has also given me more self-confidence in general, which has been immensely useful in advocating for myself and even just getting involved in community life and taking care of whatever I need to do.

I think that going to training before college would be a really fantastic idea, and I would definitely encourage you to consider that option. At the very least, I feel it will be especially important before you go away to four-year university. I could go on for days about all of the different benefits of training, and I will always support going to training sooner rather than later. After all, training is to enable you to be as independent as possible in all aspects of life, so I see no reason to try and start a very major part of life before getting the training to prepare you for it and maximize your independence for that experience. The only thing going to training first can do is make your college experience after it even better. There aren't really any negatives to going to training first, so I support it wholeheartedly.

I hope this helps, and I would be more than happy to talk with you about any other aspects of training centers off list at any time! Good luck with your decision making!

Ellana Crew, Vice President
Maryland Association of Blind Students
Website: nfbmd.org/students
Facebook: facebook.com/mdabs.federation
Twitter: @MDABS_NFB

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.

> On Mar 2, 2017, at 10:10 PM, Anna Givens via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Mikayla,
> 
> As you mentioned, this is a personal decision for each individual.  
> But with that knowledge, I hear many people say they wish they had gone to training before college, and really why wouldn't you?  Logically it makes sense to learn skills to be independent before you go out into the world independently.  
> There is one alternative that comes to mind, perhaps you do one semester at the community college before training as that may help you understand what the demands of college and independence really are.  This may help you be more focused in training.  
> I see no absolutely no reason to wait til college is over, personally.
> Just my thoughts...
> 
> As far as justification for training, I am not sure where you live but it may do you well to find people in your state that have gone through that process of justification.  Every state is different.
> But the key is to articulate what you would get from an NFB center that you would not get from the state center, and why that matters.  
> 
> Feel free to ask more questions or contact offline if you wish.
> 
> Anna E Givens
> 
>> On Mar 2, 2017, at 7:27 PM, Mikayla Gephart via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi all,
>>   I am counting on my Federation family to help me during this time of excitement anticipation, and stress. Next year, I will be a senior in high School. I am planning on starting my college journey at a community college to transition into the college thing, and to get some of my general education courses out of the way. However, I also want to attend an NFB training center, as I know I am not fully independent. I know this is a personal decision for each individual, but what do you guys think about going to a training center before community college, after community college but before going to a four year universityity, or after a four year university? I will also be meeting with my VR counselor soon. I know that you usually have to justify going to a NFB training center as opposed to a state training center. When do you think I should bring this up to my counselor? I like her, but am a little nervous to bring this up to her. Also, how do you justify it positively? I went to the state center’s summer program last summer. It was good, but I feel like I would have a better experience at the NFB center. We had one low vision instructor, and the rest of the instructors were sighted. Also, we went to see a movie, and the theater did not provide audio description. They also do not make us work under blindfold. Any help will be appreciated. My family and I will also be attending convention! Thank you.
>> Best,
>> Mikayla
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