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Blind Abilities welcomes Shane DeSantis, Transition Coordinator at State Services for the Blind of Minnesota, to the studio to talk about an upcoming College 101 webinar.
Are you interested in attending college to gain education and
training needed to meet your employment goals? Do you have questions about what the transition to college will look like and what skills are needed to be successful in higher academics?
What: SSB is hosting a College 101 webinar for prospective blind, visually impaired, and DeafBlind college students to learn from current college students the skills needed for success in higher education. Please join us for the conversation and feel free to ask questions you might have about college.
Who: This is open for any prospective college student in high school or recently graduated from high school. A small group of current college students will serve as panelists to discuss their experiences at college and answer questions.
When: Monday, November 28th from 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Where: Zoom! Please click here to register.
If you have any questions, please contact Shane DeSantis at shane.desantis@state.mn.us or 651-358-5205.
Full Transcript Below
Contact Your State Services
If you reside in Minnesota, and you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Services contact Pre-ETS Program and Transition Services Coordinator Shane DeSantis at shane.desantis@state.mn.us or 651-358-5205.
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Full Transcript
SSB is hosting a College 101 webinar for prospective blind, visually impaired, and DeafBlind college students – November 28th at 6 PM CST.
{Music}
Woman 1:
Self-advocacy is like a really big thing to start working on communicating with your professors.
Woman 2:
That’s another thing to consider too, if you want to live on campus or off campus.
Man 1:
How do you find your classes and like get there on time?
Woman 3:
Yeah. Time management skills are really important in college.
Man 2:
How is it navigating through, like, big open spaces like diners and crowded venues. I mean, what is that like?
Woman 4:
What has been the most challenging thing about going or being in college as a blind or visually impaired person?
Jeff:
Welcome to Blind Abilities, I’m Jeff Thompson. Today in the studio we have Shane Desantis, and he’s the transition Coordinator at State Services for the Blind of Minnesota, and I’m so glad to have him in here because there’s a lot of activities coming out for transition students, people who are thinking about improving their opportunities for gainful employment through education. Shane DeSantis, welcome to Blind Abilities.
Shane:
Yes. Hi Jeff. Thank you for having me.
Jeff:
Oh, you bet. I got a little notice here that you got a college 101 webinar coming up for students.
Shane:
Yes, we do. I’m excited to announce this. I don’t know how much we’ve done anything like this in the past, so I’m excited to get the word out and try and recruit some prospective college students to come and learn about and prepare for college.
Jeff:
And what is it that they can expect to learn from such a webinar, College 101?
Shane:
Yes. So I am bringing together three current and a recent college graduate to serve as panelists to talk about their experience of that college. And I’m gonna be tailoring some questions to them to help educate the audience or our prospective college students, what are some good skills and tips and tricks that these current college students or the recent graduates used in college to be successful? And so the hope is that we can make a connection between our future college students and some current college students to help our future students be prepared, be ready for college, and know what to expect.
Jeff:
Let them know that there are some pathways out there that other people have taken that they can learn about and better their chances at succeeding.
Shane:
Exactly. I wanted to bring in a little bit of a variety to the panelists, so we have one college student who’s currently studying at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, so he’s on that four year track to a bachelor’s degree, and then we have another student who chose to go out of state and really hop into a totally new environment in a university that they didn’t tour until their senior year of high school and decided to go there. And then the third individual is someone who recently graduated, this is a cool scenario, they did PSEO their junior and senior year, and graduated with their high school diploma and an associate’s degree all in the same month, and got a job a month later and has been working, making money at age 18, 19 years old, and really took advantage of that PSEO Program and popped right into work after high school.
Jeff:
Oh wow. That’s a unique situation. I haven’t heard of that before. That’s really cool.
Shane:
You know, Jeff, neither have I. I know of PSEO and typically I see some students take some PSEO classes and then dive into college after high school. It’s kind of a jump start in front of some other students ‘cause they’ve got credits already earned and this guy, he got that two year degree, and throughout PSEO had those high school requirements all taken care of. So he had his high school pay for his two year degree, got a job afterwards and got to making money at such a young age.
Jeff:
Oh, that’s great. This College 101 webinar will be a great opportunity for future students, age 14 to 21,, or people who are, you know, about to embark upon their higher education to ask those specific questions, those questions that they have, those doubts, their future, what is it? What’s it gonna take to get over that hurdle in front of them, that education piece to get to gainful employment, so good for you for putting together such a diverse panel.
Shane:
You know, I’m really looking forward to bringing the student group together to connect and share some resources, and I’m also hoping that we get some parents to attend as well. You know, sending off your child to college can be an anxiety-provoking time and adding on top of that, some of those concerns of how is my child gonna do in college with the vision loss? What resources are they gonna have to help them be successful? So I’ve had some parents come to me with some of those concerns and say, hey, what can I do to best support my child for this leap into post-secondary? So I’d love to get some parents at the table to ask some of those questions, talk about some of those sharing concerns of going off to college and what our students need to be doing to be successful during this time and make this transition as smooth as possible.
Jeff:
Oh, that’s really important because one of the first advocates that the child has, the student, the young adult has was their parents. And if the parents can be tuned in to help this, I mean, we all need a little bit of guidance sometimes and a little bit of support, and that’s a good place to start.
Shane:
Yeah, I think mentorship is such a valuable opportunity for our students. So hearing from others what they have done to pave their pathway and to pave their success. I think learning that from other mentors creates some good relationships and some good, you know, just thoughts of, oh, hey, I can do that too, yes, that’s how I can also do this, and I can blaze my own path towards success with these tools that I’ve learned and stories that have been shared to create their own success. So that’s what I’m really hoping to bring to our prospective college students as they are embarking on that journey and making their own path.
Jeff:
Reading the flyer that you put out, I see that when people register, there’s a spot, there’s a box that they can input some questions that they may have. So what a great way that the panelists will already have these questions. When you register, those will be sent on and they’ll be able to weed through those questions and ask them, just smooth, just seamless. I like that.
Shane:
Exactly. I wanted to make sure, and I mean on two fronts here, one, some individuals, and when we’re talking virtually, just some just don’t want to speak up and participate. So I think that gives those individuals, who might just want to sit back and take it all in to still ask a question and have their question answered. And also that’s gonna give us a chance to prepare and look at those questions beforehand. So me and the panelists will be getting together to prepare for this, and so if we see questions or if we see, you know, similar questions, we’ll definitely adjust all of them and get them answered during the session.
Jeff:
No, that’s really great. I really like that. That’s something new, I haven’t seen that that much, I guess I haven’t noticed it that much before, so this is gonna be very inclusive. Can you tell the listeners when this is happening?
Shane:
Yes. This will be happening on Monday, November 28th, from 6 to 7:30 PM.
Jeff:
We’ll put a link in the show notes, but can you tell ’em how and where they can register.
Shane:
Yes, so we’ve got a flyer put together and towards the bottom there is a Zoom register link. So individuals just need to click on that link. I think all you have to do is put in your name and email address so we can send that Zoom link to you, and then if you have a question you want to ask or need an accommodation for the night, fill that out, click that register button, and then you will be forwarded that link to the webinar on the 28th at 6:00 PM.
Jeff:
And I read too that there will be translators available too for the deaf-blind.
Shane:
Correct. We will have ASL interpreters present.
Jeff:
Wow, this is a great event. I’m really excited for it because it’s a great opportunity for people to look ahead and not feel so alone and feel that there’s other people that they can meet and probably mentor with and, you know, have to draw upon in the future when they have questions too.
Shane:
Mm-hm, yes, and one thing also I have to put out there is if someone is unable to attend and really wants to get this knowledge, we will be recording the session. So if someone cannot make it and really wants to watch that recording, please email me. My email is at the bottom of the flyer and I can send out that recording of the event.
Jeff:
Awesome. You’re making it available to the world, there you go.
Shane:
Yeah.
Jeff:
Well, Shane, thank you so much. Thanks for your new position there at SSB. I believe you were a counselor there before.
Shane:
Yes, I was. I’ve been with SSB for four years now. I just hit my fourth year anniversary the other week and slid into this transition coordinator role earlier this fall, and I’m so excited to reach more students and work with more families and put together great events like this to help our students prepare for employment and prepare for college and prepare for success.
Jeff:
What was it like going to that conference that you were just attending, that we talked about before we started recording?
Shane:
Yeah, so I was at a conference with a lot of the teachers of blind and visually impaired here in Minnesota last week. And so connecting with our teachers who are working with students on a day-to-day and helping students reach their IEP goals and set them up for that success is so valuable, ‘cause our relationships and our partnerships with teachers need to be a good balance because we are helping them also transition and working with students after high school. So it was great to connect with so many of our great teachers from around the whole state and talk about how we work together and serve our students mutually, so it was great just to get myself out there, make a lot of connections, and this was my first conference since the pandemic. So just getting out there and being in that live environment was just a great experience.
Jeff:
Well, that’s great. I’m glad you’re building that networking, that community, that everyone can work together on for the success of the pre-ETS students. Well, Shane, thank you so much for taking the time and coming onto Blind Abilities, and I will be excited to see this College 101 happen.
Shane:
Yes, thank you Jeff, always a pleasure.
Jeff:
Be sure to contact your State Services for the Blind, your voc-rehab, and find out what they can do for you. Live, work, read, succeed. A big shout out to Chee Chau for his beautiful music, you can follow Chee Chau on Twitter @lcheechau. For more podcasts with a blindness perspective, check us out on the web at www.blindabilities.com, on Twitter @BlindAbilities, and download the free Blind Abilities app from the App Store and Google Play Store. That’s two words, blind abilities. And if you want to leave some feedback, give us some suggestions, give us a call at 612-367-6093. We’d love to hear from you.
I want to thank you for listening, and until next time, bye-bye.
[Music] [Transition noise] -When we share
-What we see
-Through each other’s eyes…
[Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]
…We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities.