[NFBOK-Talk] National Association of Blind Students Notes -- February 2016

Tue Mar 1 18:22:55 UTC 2016

The below message is from the National Association of Blind Students. Please
pass along to any blind students that you may know. Your help, as always, is
greatly appreciated. 
Thanks and enjoy!
Jeannie 

Hello Fellow Federationists,
Happy Leap Day! Please take some time to read through all of the information
in this month's edition of the NABS Notes. You can click on the following
URL to read the Notes, view the attachment, or they are copied and pasted
below for your convenience. Please let me know if you have any questions,
suggestions, or concerns about the monthly NABS Notes so that they can be
the best they can be!
Here's the link:
http://nabslink.org/content/nabs-notes-february-2016
And here's the text:
NABS Notes February 2016

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.	Report Your Experiences with Pearson Products
3.	The NFB National Scholarship: Upcoming Membership Call
4.	Attention High School Students! – NFB EQ
5.	The NFB Summer Internship Program
6.	February NABS Blog Update
7.	State Updates
8.	February 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.

Report your experiences with Pearson products

The NFB has engaged in a consultation agreement with Pearson in an effort to
improve the accessibility of Pearson’s educational products.
It is important that we report to Pearson the barriers that NFB members are
experiencing. If you have encountered access barriers with any Pearson
product, such as MyLab or Course Connect, please contact Valerie Yingling,
Paralegal, at vyingling at nfb.org, or 410-659-9314 ext. 2440.

The NFB National Scholarship: Upcoming Membership Call

Are you interested in applying for an NFB national scholarship, but have
some questions about forms, requirements, the application process, or the
national NFB convention that scholarship winners attend? Then join NABS on
February 28 at 7 PM eastern as we hear from a scholarship committee
representative about all of the ins and outs of the scholarship application
and program. Dial into the conference line to participate using the
following information: phone number
(605) 475-6700, access code 7869673. Come get all of your
scholarship-related questions answered!

Attention High School Students! – NFB EQ

Are you interested or know someone who might be interested in pursuing work
in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) after high school? Do
you enjoy investing your talent and energy in solving real-world problems?
Join the National Federation of the Blind for NFB EQ, a week-long
engineering program for blind and low-vision high school students.

At this program, you will collaborate with other students to solve authentic
problems that exist in developing countries. You will spend the week working
on a team to engineer solutions to a given problem.
Your team will create proposals with accompanying models, which you will
pitch to various stakeholders. After constructing life-size prototypes of
your designs, you will test them in authentic settings.
You will also have the opportunity to meet and collaborate with a number of
engineers from across the country, some of whom happen to be blind.

To learn more and to apply, visit:
www.blindscience.org/NFBEQ

NOTE: State student leaders, please spread the word! Reach out to high
school students and schools in your state so that they are aware of this
exciting opportunity.

The NFB Summer Internship Program

The application date is right around the corner! Have you considered
applying for the unique experience of interning at the NFB Jernigan
Institute in Baltimore? For more information, visit the following
link:
https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/national-federation-blind-2016-summer-interns
hip-program
Remember, all application materials are due on March 11.

February NABS Blog Update

Often times we want to get involved in school or in the community, but
sometimes we just aren’t sure where to start. Check out this step by step
approach to getting involved by Lizzie Muhammad. The link is:
http://nabslink.org/content/step-step-approach-getting-involved .
If you have any ideas for articles or would like to write one, you can email
Bre Brown at bbrown at nfbtx.org. Stay tuned for the blog update in March.

State Updates

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

Arizona:
Greetings from your Arizona students. The new year has officially been
welcomed with January business out of the way, and February underway.
Following a very challenging but still very productive Washington Seminar we
are proud to report that we were able to send 9 Arizonians to our nations
capital including two of our students division board.
Along with our advocacy work on Capital Hill we are working hard to continue
our advocacy work locally during our Phoenix Seminar.

Finally the students division is organizing a students seminar with a theme
of "Transitioning". We are going to have break out sessions, presenters, and
a panel to discuss everything from transitioning from high school to
college, college to the work place, training facilities to the work place,
and even some health and wellness, and NFB philosophy. We are working
towards 50 student participants from all over Arizona. Thank you all for
taking the time to read our state updates and lets go live the life we want.

Colorado:
Now that our Broncos have won the superbowl, we have winners for our NFL
playoffs pool fundraiser.  Congratulations to Richie Flores from Texas for
coming in second place, and Karen Rogers from Colorado for a first place
win!  The division is planning an informative student seminar for April
where we plan to talk about many topics related to being a successful blind
student.  We are also starting to plan a membership outreach event in
Boulder, in order to reach out to new students.  With the NFB's Colorado
Center for the Blind close by, we are able to work with them in many ways,
including mentoring and education at the Colorado School for the Blind,
working with younger students in Denver to facilitate fun activities that
teach skills and positive philosophy, and speaking to the center students on
different topics important to blind students.  We are experiencing
membership growth and looking forward to what is to come!

Maryland:
The Maryland Association of Blind Students continues to focus our energy on
membership growth and rebuilding. To begin this process, our
Membership/Communications Committee held our division's first membership
call on February 20. In this call, participants got a chance to meet the
current MDABS Board, learn about our committees and the work they do, and
share their ideas with our leaders. Though attendance was a bit lower than
expected, we were able to introduce a few enthusiastic new members to the
work of the organization, in which they were eager to get involved. Our
Board is also beginning to make plans for a student seminar focused on
independent living skills, to be held in early May. Stay tuned for more
information on this seminar as we get logistics worked out.

Massachusetts:
MASSABS is excited to report that 5 of the 8 NFBMA members in attendance at
Washington Seminar were students, two of whom were there for the first time
including Meaghan Roper and Dylan Hedtler Gaudette, President Precious Perez
also endured 7 flight cancellations to make it.

Our state convention is Feb. 26-28 in Boston and we will be electing a new
board. We are very excited to have Kathryn Webster as our NABS Rep. In
addition, we have 50/50 raffle tickets for sale that are already up to about
$250 in prize money and climbing. If you want to buy some, contact Derek
Manners at derekmanners at gmail.com and he can take your order via PayPal.
Finally, we will be auctioning off some 3D printed items as well as some
fudge and cookies made by our talented baker, Secretary Meaghan Roper.

New Jersey:
In January NJABS raised about 200 dollars conducting a raffle at the NFBNJ
holiday party put on by the state affiliate. NJABS is also planning our
first seminar with the newly elected board. NJABS is also working with PABS
to put on this seminar. It should be a great collaboration and we are
looking forward to a great event.

Texas:
The Texas Association of Blind students in conjunction with the Texas
Parents of Blind Children will be holding our annual youth conference in
Dallas, April 8-10. The conference is for Parents of blind children, blind
students, and related professionals to come together during this exciting
weekend to network, learn, and have lots of fun!
We will have exhibits, a reception, an open TABS board meeting, a joint
session for parents, students, and professionals, a formal luncheon,
breakout sessions for students and parents, a recreational trip, and more.
We are pleased to welcome Jeannie Massay from Oklahoma as our national
representative. This is always an exciting time here in Texas, and this year
will not be any different. You can find all of the details at www.nfbtx.org.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at bbrown at nfbtx.org .

February NABS Board Meeting Minutes

National Association of Blind Students

Board Meeting Minutes
Sunday, February 21, 2016

Meeting called to order at 9:07 p.m.

Members Present:

Sean Whalen (President)
Candice Chapman (1st Vice President)
Bre Brown (2nd Vice President)
Kathryn Webster (Secretary/Treasurer)
Hindley Williams (Board Member 1)
Garret Mooney (Board member 2)
Chris Nusbaum (Board member 3)
Michael Ausbun (Board Member 4)

Treasurer’s Report:
Checking account balance: $3,278.58
Savings account balance: $7,157.27

Washington Seminar Success:
NABS Café wristbands: $345
NABS Auction: $521; awaiting money from Everett and Virgil NABS Winter
Seminar Registration: $150 Raffle tickets: $12 NABS Café Bar costs: -$185 We
still owe Sean $2,296.16 and will reimburse him once an expenditure sheet
has been sent to the Wash Sem Funding Committee;
$300 for Sean’s flight;
And $200 for one more student who received funding from NABS to attend
Washington Seminar Stay tuned for final numbers once all the money has been
handled with National, funded students, and Sean.

Wash Sem Debrief:
Great turnout! We had more than 50 attendees at the NABS Winter Seminar,
which is more than last year and more than we expected given the weather.
A huge thank you to President Riccobono for combining the reception and the
NABS Café into one event; and for the match from National in order to get
more than 20 students who would otherwise have not attended due to financial
burden.
Chris will send thank you emails to each presenter from our NABS meeting.
We made great connections with various affiliate leaders and student
leaders; and thank you for joining us in Washington DC!

State Updates

Hindley:
Alaska does not have a student division, but Hindley keeps them in the loop.
Attending a few conference calls. Vermont is harder to keep in touch with.

Garret:
Garret is working closely with California, Colorado, and Arizona.
Arizona is going to have a student seminar on April 9. Colorado is having a
student seminar next week. There is a new student president in Arizona as of
this week. Garret is helping states build relationships with affiliate
leadership.

Chris:
Maryland had their first membership call of the year last night.
Michigan is doing well with their new president; working on a seminar.
Illinois is having a student seminar this spring. Difficulty contacting New
Hampshire and Rhode Island.

Michael:
Working closely with Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette with Maine. Nevada and Ohio are
working closely with Michael. South Carolina is doing well.
Oklahoma is having a student seminar in conjunction with the Oklahoma
affiliate.

Mid-Year Review/Moving Forward

Communications:
NABS Notes: going well. Let Hindley know if you have any questions,
suggestions, or concerns.
NABS Notes have been effectively blasted across our database, discussion
list, and master list.

Social media:
Doing a solid job. NABS Notes and blog posts are broadcasted on social
media. Chris and other board members need to do more blindness articles to
trigger discussions. Chris should work on putting out more NABS updates on
social media. Get photos and captions to Chris while we are NABS Repping at
various State Conventions.

Slate blog posts:
They are becoming more and more consistent. We are posting at least once a
month. We would love for more ideas or articles to post. We should revamp
the student division spotlight post for different states once a month.
Kathryn will look into creating a comment section for the blog.

Fundraising:
Have done a great job! We still have our GoFundMe page. Kathryn will post an
update that advertises NABS from an organization standpoint, more so than
the one initiative to raise money for Wash Sem.
We are awaiting the $240 from the Applebee’s fundraiser and the amount for
the Chipotle one in California.
Kathryn is going to coordinate a 5-k walk/run at Wake Forest to raise money
toward National Convention expenses. We could look into grant writing if
money gets tight in the future, but we are doing very well as of right now.

Membership:
We have our scholarship membership call on Sunday, February 28 at 7pm
eastern. Join Scholarship Committee Chair Patti Chang to get all of your
questions answered!

NABS Reps:
Kathryn will be in Massachusetts this coming weekend; Bre in Alabama the
following weekend; And Michael in Idaho at the end of April.

Meeting adjourned at 10:38 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 March.

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.

NABS Notes February 2016

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.	Report Your Experiences with Pearson Products
3.	The NFB National Scholarship: Upcoming Membership Call
4.	Attention High School Students! – NFB EQ
5.	The NFB Summer Internship Program
6.	February NABS Blog Update
7.	State Updates
8.	February 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.

Report your experiences with Pearson products

The NFB has engaged in a consultation agreement with Pearson in an effort to
improve the accessibility of Pearson’s educational products.
It is important that we report to Pearson the barriers that NFB members are
experiencing. If you have encountered access barriers with any Pearson
product, such as MyLab or Course Connect, please contact Valerie Yingling,
Paralegal, at vyingling at nfb.org, or 410-659-9314 ext. 2440.

The NFB National Scholarship: Upcoming Membership Call

Are you interested in applying for an NFB national scholarship, but have
some questions about forms, requirements, the application process, or the
national NFB convention that scholarship winners attend? Then join NABS on
February 28 at 7 PM eastern as we hear from a scholarship committee
representative about all of the ins and outs of the scholarship application
and program. Dial into the conference line to participate using the
following information: phone number
(605) 475-6700, access code 7869673. Come get all of your
scholarship-related questions answered!

Attention High School Students! – NFB EQ

Are you interested or know someone who might be interested in pursuing work
in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) after high school? Do
you enjoy investing your talent and energy in solving real-world problems?
Join the National Federation of the Blind for NFB EQ, a week-long
engineering program for blind and low-vision high school students.

At this program, you will collaborate with other students to solve authentic
problems that exist in developing countries. You will spend the week working
on a team to engineer solutions to a given problem.
Your team will create proposals with accompanying models, which you will
pitch to various stakeholders. After constructing life-size prototypes of
your designs, you will test them in authentic settings.
You will also have the opportunity to meet and collaborate with a number of
engineers from across the country, some of whom happen to be blind.

To learn more and to apply, visit:
www.blindscience.org/NFBEQ

NOTE: State student leaders, please spread the word! Reach out to high
school students and schools in your state so that they are aware of this
exciting opportunity.

The NFB Summer Internship Program

The application date is right around the corner! Have you considered
applying for the unique experience of interning at the NFB Jernigan
Institute in Baltimore? For more information, visit the following
link:
https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/national-federation-blind-2016-summer-interns
hip-program
Remember, all application materials are due on March 11.

February NABS Blog Update

Often times we want to get involved in school or in the community, but
sometimes we just aren’t sure where to start. Check out this step by step
approach to getting involved by Lizzie Muhammad. The link is:
http://nabslink.org/content/step-step-approach-getting-involved .
If you have any ideas for articles or would like to write one, you can email
Bre Brown at bbrown at nfbtx.org. Stay tuned for the blog update in March.

State Updates