[Oabs] Hello, OABS

[Elif Emir]

Hi all,
For those who were not at the convention, I’m the new board member Elif.
I’m from Turkey and student at Xavier University.
I’m not chatty as much as Kaiti, especially on paper. So I’ll write
generally shortly and directly. If you have any questions please ask.
These are valid for all my e-mails.
Kaiti thanks for not assigning me to any committee yet. Let’s wait and
see what can I do and when I can attend meetings.
Thanks for sending constitution. I’ll review it and try to help you
for identifying the duties for officers.
I’ll come up pretty soon with a list about what we can put on our
website. So we can work on it.
Do we have a logo or can we use NFB logo?

That’s all from me for now.
See you


2014-11-03 1:31 GMT-05:00, Kaiti Shelton via Oabs <oabs at nfbnet.org>:
> Hi, OABSters,
>
> For those of you who were at convention, I hope you're not too tired;
> I know I enjoyed a long weekend packed with excitement, and a
> much-needed nap when I got back to my house on campus.  For those of
> you who were not able to make convention, here is all the information
> you need to know.
>
> Your 2014-2015 board is as follows:
> President: Kaiti Shelton.
> Vice President: Aleeha Dudley.
> Secretary: Macy McClain.
> Treasurer: Emily Pennington.
> Board Member: Elif Emir Oksuz.
>
> Durring the business meeting, we voted to reduce the board to 5
> members instead of 7.  This is because with our small size we've had
> difficulty keeping all positions filled.  We may choose to expand the
> board again if we grow substantially in size and activity in the
> future, but for now 5 members is a comfortable size for our board.
> Secretary will now record as well as correspond through Facebook,
> Twitter, and email, but I will start sending out meeting reminders
> because I've noticed that Eric is the one who does that for the
> division rather than Shelbi.  The goal has always been to mirror the
> affiliate in structure as much as possible, so that is why that change
> will be made now that Macy will need to do what to people used to do
> for the most part.
>
> Tim Pennington has agreed to help us establish a web site for OABS,
> and is looking into using the domain "ohioblindstudents.org" as our
> site.  Unfortunately, oabs.org is already taken by the Ohio
> Association of Biblical Scholars, so we can't use that.  I have
> emailed back and forth with David Andrews a few times today, and he
> seems to have indicated that the platform that Tim uses will be okay
> to use instead of Drupal, and he said he can supply scripts for
> screenreaders which will increase the accessibility of the site even
> further than what Tim will already do to make it blind-user-friendly.
>
> Other goals I'd like to accomplish this year include the following:
> Getting the bookmark fundraiser and brochure distribution projects off
> the ground in the fundraising and membership committees, producing a
> newsletter at some point to send out and post on our web site,
> "Infiltrate Wright State" which for those who don't know is the effort
> that Richard Payne and I have concocted to get the mass of blind
> students at WSU involved in the Federation, and a small convention
> assistance program for now.  I'd also like to see a mentoring program
> started, and work with the co-presidents of the struggling parents
> division to draw in both parents and students to the NFB.  I have a
> long-term hope that OABS will eventually be able to sponsor a
> scholarship at least at the $500 level, but this is something I expect
> to move towards, but not necessarily achieve this year.
>
> Fundraising was a success at convention this year, and drew in $184
> from sales of our split-the-pot tickets.  Half of that was donated to
> the "Drive for 75" fund by the winner, which we very much appreciated
> as the students were not able to contribute to the Money for the
> Movement due to shortage of funds.  I am confident that we will be
> able to next year as long as fundraising continues to follow an upward
> trend.  Membership also had some successes, as several new members
> joined the division.  Stephanie Claytor, Michael Welty, and Jonathan
> Thomas are all new to us, so let's welcome them into the division.  I
> will figure out committee assignments in the next few days, and will
> send the completed list over the list once it is complete.
>
> If you were not able to attend the convention, but would still like to
> be a member of OABS, please contact Emily Pennington at
> emilypennington at fuse.net.  She can give you her address to send $5
> dues to, and once you pay you'll be a full-fledged member with voting
> rights.
>
> Our first membership meeting will be in either November or December.
> Stay tuned for more details.  The membership meeting will be a panel
> entitled, "Federation Philosophy: Why Students Matter to the
> Movement."  This is a call we have every year, and it is mainly for
> the benefit of those who were not able to attend convention.  The
> business meeting will be brief, but will be accompanied by a
> presentation on the national scholarship program by Patti
> Gregory-Chang, who is the chair of the scholarship committee.  I would
> encourage you to apply for this program, and to call in to this
> meeting.  Several division members have won scholarships in the past,
> including Aleeha (2011), myself (2013), and Emily is a Tenbroke Fellow
> (2012 and 2014).  Applications opened on Saturday, and the final
> deadline is March 31.  You can visit nfb.org/scholarships for more
> information, but take advantage of the opportunity to ask questions of
> Patti directly.
>
> The convention experience was amazing this year, with the Maurers
> there, and the Beatles fundraiser.  I know one thing; after hearing
> John Lennon describe American Jelly Beans, I don't think I'll ever
> think about them in the same way ever again.
>
> If anyone has questions, comments, concerns, or ideas, feel free to
> email me on or off-list depending on the nature of your message.  My
> email is kaiti.shelton at gmail.com and my phone is (513)285-2072.
> Please remember that I am here to take concerns into consideration and
> to do what I can to address them based on what is best for the
> division, but I can't fully do my job if these problems or suggestions
> are not brought to my attention.  If you have a problem with the way
> something is running, or would like to see something change, please
> let me know so we can do something about it.  Dr. Maurer said in his
> banquet address that the world runs for those who show up, and the
> same is true for those who speak up.  If we're all transparent with
> each other, the division will run much more smoothly for everyone.
>
> Looking forward to a productive and exciting year!
>
>
> --
> Kaiti Shelton
> University of Dayton 2016.
> Music Therapy, Psychology, Philosophy
> President, Ohio Association of Blind Students
> Sigma Alpha Iota-Delta Sigma
>
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