[PABS] Meeting Notes 1-31-16

[Lizzy]

Hello PABS Friends!
Below are the meeting notes from last night! Notice that I am 
calling them "notes" and not minutes, that's because we must read 
them for accuracy and then vote on them before they can be 
considered official minutes.  Let me know if you notice any 
mistakes and I will be sure to edit these for the official copy.  
My email is:lizzym0827 at gmail.com
Feration love,
Lizzy

Pennsylvania Association of Blind Students
1-31-16 Minutes
Present: Hindley, Lily, Lizzy, Tom, Marta, Ryan
Meeting called to order: 7:35 pm
Welcome Our New PABS Member:
Our newest member Marta introduced herself.  She's an LCB grad 
currently living in Philly.
We all introduced ourselves briefly.
Reports:
Secretary's report: If I (Lizzy) miss something in the minutes 
please say something.  For example, if you were present but you 
are not on the list, let me know so that I can edit the report.  
Also, if you come late, you will be noted in the minutes with the 
time that you were able to arrive.  I will be posting them to 
facebook and sending them out to the board (and anyone who asks 
for them).
Please read the secretary's report before the next meeting, so 
that we can vote on them.
Treasurer's report: Jason will read them at the meeting, then we 
can vote right away.  It's just a way for us to keep track of our 
funds.
Wash Sem Recap:
Things didn't work out with the basket for various reasons, but 
we can either use it in another event or save it for next year's 
Wash Sem.
Ryan bought the Liberty bell replica and a mug and Hindley said 
that he would be reimbursed for the items and the cost of 
shipping.
Hindley asked if Lily was able to return the items she bought 
(Lily said yes).
Hindley thanks everyone for their part.
Six students were able to make it to Washington Seminar, we also 
got six AIMHE act letters surpassing our goal of five.
We did not have a chocolate fundraiser this time around, but we 
can do it in the future (maybe at national convention).
Communication:
Our facebook is doing very well with about 30 members.
Please continue to post, like, comment share etc.  let's keep it 
active.
Reiteration that Lizzy will be posting minutes on Facebook.
Lily has been doing a great job texting our group about meetings, 
it is sometimes a life saver when people forget.  Could someone 
do the same for facebook? Maybe one reminder a week in advance, 
then the day before and maybe again the day of.
Ryan volunteered.
We now have an email list serve with nfb.net
Lizzy is the moderator.
Hindley asked if anyone had questions about list serves.
If you do, let Lizzy or Hindley know about that.
The minutes will also be going out over the list serve.
Keystone Chapter:
Lizzy, Lily and Hindley are members of Philadelphia's Keystone 
Chapter of the NFB of PA.  They asked us to really get more 
students involved.
In April on a Saturday, we'll get some refreshments, and relax 
with a lot of students.  We talked about having a spring seminar, 
but we want to have this before, to recruit people to the Spring 
Seminar.  We're not only looking for current students but also 
young people.
Side note from Hindley: Big thanks to Lizzy, Lily, Ryan and Jason 
for attending the envelope stuffing with the Keystone Chapter for 
the NFB National Scholarship.
Spring Seminar:
Hindley asked, "What do we want its function to be?"
Lily asked if it would be for a weekend or a day?
Ryan would like to do a day or a weekend.
Lily said that a weekend might be better for transportation 
purposes, (everyone agreed).
Jason arrived at 7:52 pm.
Lily said that Denise might be able to get rooms for us to stay 
overnight at Penn State for a weekend.
Hindley agrees that State College is a pretty central location 
for all of us.
Lily also said that we could do something in Philly.
Ryan mentioned that it would be quite a trip for people living in 
Pittsburgh
Hindley adds that since our membership is so heavily based in 
Eastern PA, it might be nice to focus on the Western PA 
membership.
Lily will ask Denise and report back to us on the next call.
Hindley asked if it should be a seminar or a social.
Ryan said that it should be both.  He also said, "Maybe some 
trivia or something would be nice."
Lily agrees: She says let's get to know each other.  She proposes 
some board games with a  more relaxed atmosphere, or a movie 
night.
Lizzy: Said let's do something that we don't always do, 
interactive discussions where everyone talks etc.  Let's try to 
get away from presentations for this seminar.
Hindley: Agrees, and says why don't we do break out groups like 
we did at the NABS Washington Seminar? (We had break out groups 
with different topics such as professionalism, social, 
legislation, etc).  She said that we should focus a bit on the 
social piece (everyone likes the idea).
Ryan asks: How many people are we expecting?
Hindley says: Recruit, recruit, recruit.
Hindley asks what are we thinking for our audience, we have 
college students, but also some high school students.
Who are we focusing on.
We could do something separate, or we could divide people into 
groups of mixed ages.
Ryan says let's focus on one at a time.
Lily agrees, undergrads with a few grad students for the first 
one, then have one in the fall or at the end of the summer for 
high school students right before they go back to school.
Lizzy: Says let's leave it open for all students because they 
will have questions for older blind college students.  We also 
don't want them to feel shut out in any way.
Lily and Ryan agree.
Hindley says: Maybe just an afternoon of college prep for HS 
students, but also agrees with Lizzy that we shouldn't shut out 
people who are Junior and Seniors.  She also brings up the 
question of them being minors.
Jason says: Let's gear it toward college students, but let's 
invite High School students.
Hindley affirms.
Hindley has a really big database of almost all the colleges with 
blind students, if we all take a section we can recruit a lot of 
people for this event.  She says that we will discuss this more 
in February.
She asked if anyone had any questions about anything at all.
Hearing none: She reminds us to subscribe to the list serve, and 
keep up with the facebook and text groups.
Next meeting: Sunday Feb.  28 at 7:30 pm
Meeting Adjourned: 8:09 pm
Respectfully Submitted,
Lizzy Muhammad

PABS Secretary - 2015-2016