Professional panel spoke to students about exciting possibilities for blind professionals.
Students enrolled in the National Federation of the Blind’s (NFB) High School/High Tech Transition to Independence Club welcomed over 60 students from Maryland, New York, Virginia, and Washington State to attend the first-ever High School/High Tech Transition to Independence Club Career Fair. During the daylong event, students took part in workshops designed especially for them, mingled with exhibitors and conversed with a panel of blind professionals who provided career and life guidance. The event took place at NFB’s Jernigan Institute on Thursday, February 23, 2006.
This career fair provided students the opportunity to attend various workshop sessions - Getting Your Dream Job, Accessing Rehabilitation Services, Making a Good First Impression, Utilizing Technology, Career Exploration, Getting Funding for College or other Vocational Training, and Earning that First Paycheck. The students also had the opportunity to gather information about the various Training Centers for the Blind.
Presentation on campus Disability Support Services
Exhibitors, which included Making Choices for Independent Living (MCIL); NFB-NEWSLINE; Division of Rehabilitation Services (DORS) Field Program, Office for Blindness and Vision Services, Workforce and Technology Center (WTC), and Maryland Business Enterprise Program for the Blind; and Blind Industries and Services of Maryland (BISM), answered questions about products and services available to youth with disabilities.
Exhibitors provided a wealth of information to interested students.
After a busy morning of workshop sessions, other NFB students served a scrumptious lunch, which was followed by a motivational speech by Anil Lewis, President of the Board of the National Federation of the Blind of Georgia. Mr. Lewis, who has been blind since the age of 25, has a Masters Degree in Public Administration and is currently employed by the law offices of Martin and Jones as the Georgia Client Assistance Program (CAP) counselor/advocate. He also has two siblings who are blind, and is especially interested in teaching and mentoring students who are blind.
Mr. Lewis told the group to think positively about their future, to be involved in their own transition planning, and to set high expectations for themselves. He then stayed around for the afternoon sessions and continued to tell students about his experiences as a rehabilitation consumer, an advocate, and a blind professional.
Workshop sessions and exhibits were well received by the students, who asked excellent questions and gained a great deal of knowledge and information about their future possibilities. NFB’s High School/High Tech Transition to Independence Club is funded under a grant supported by the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy, and by Maryland State Department of Education, Division of Rehabilitation Services.
Staff of Maryland DORS present about rehabilitation services.