Full Transcript
Sheila:
Last year for the first time SSB had peer educators. It was an opportunity for them to create programs for other students during the summer.
Pete:
Introducing Sheila Koenig, Transition Services Coordinator for State Services for the Blind of Minnesota.
Sheila:
STP is what it’s known as, Summer Transition Program.
Pete:
Looking ahead to the summer of 2021, using creativity to develop innovative and effective programs for transition youth in Minnesota.
Sheila:
We are also going to add another work-based learning experience for a marketing and outreach associate.
Pete:
Listening and taking her leads from the students themselves.
Sheila:
Students really felt like oh, we really need to do more around how to interact with sighted peers.
Pete:
And now let’s join Jeff Thompson and his guest, Transition Services Coordinator for State Services for the Blind, Sheila Koenig.
Sheila:
Just set opportunities in front of people, and just try to open some doors and make sure they know about all of the different events and programs and connecting opportunities, that’s really what I’m trying to do with the newsletter.
Jeff:
Welcome to Blind Abilities, I’m Jeff Thompson, and today in the studio we have Sheila Koenig, and she is the Transition Coordinator at State Services for the Blind in Minnesota. Sheila, welcome to the show!
Sheila:
Hey, Jeff! Thanks so much for having me here!
Jeff:
Well, I’m so glad you could make it, because summer’s coming up and there’s always some new programs or new stuff happening for the transition-age students, so let’s dig in.
Sheila:
Alright. Yeah, isn’t it amazing to be thinking of summer? I know there’s still a little bit of snow in patches, but it is gonna be here before we know it. I am excited about a couple of different opportunities. Last year, for the first time, SSB had peer educators, which was an opportunity to give students a work-based learning experience. For those students that were interested in education or psychology, with an opportunity for them to really create programs for other students during the summer, so rather than have like staff people like us creating the programs, it was really driven by the students. So this summer we are going to do that again, it was so successful last year, we had a great group of peer educators, and some really fun programming, so we will be looking for a couple of peer educators this year, and then we are also for the first time going to add another work-based learning experience for a marketing and outreach associate, so that person will be working with our outreach coordinator on things like web content, and social media posts, and doing all kinds of cool things related to marketing and outreach, so we’re right now in the final drafts of creating these position descriptions and then we’ll be sending them out and hoping that the students can start right around June 7th.
Jeff:
Wow. That’s really neat that it’s student driven, because who else knows best for what they would like to have, that’s great.
Sheila:
Yeah. Like one example that came up last year was students really felt like oh, we really need to do more around how to interact with sighted peers, that’s just something that students were saying gosh, it’s a little bit uncomfortable at first, and how do you present yourself in a way that’s confident? Often they’re taught to, like as soon as they meet someone, disclose their visual impairment, and in some ways doing that right away kind of sets them apart, so our peer educators were like yeah, I know, this would have been so helpful for us before starting college, that they put a program together.
Jeff:
That’s really interesting. We just did a college panel thing, and one of the topics that came up was how do you get involved in activities. You know, it wasn’t really how do you do math, how do you do social science or something of that nature, STEM programs, it was the interaction of their peers. How do you get effectively involved in the community outside of the classes? That’s really interesting.
Sheila:
And it’s such an important piece of college, and just life.
Jeff:
Mm-hm. There’s a program, Socially Savvy, that kind of handles these soft skills too, you know, the handshake, the interaction that they have, stuff that we really don’t think about, usually it’s like I’ve gotta get my books, all this stuff, but I think a lot of times they’re just worried, how do they fit in.
Sheila:
Yeah. Well, and you mentioned Blind and Socially Savvy, that’s such a good example and they will actually be a part of Summer Transition Program this summer, so for the students who are signing up for STP, is what it’s known as, Summer Transition Program, they’ll be able to attend Socially Savvy, but you’re right, it’s that same kind of thing, like how do I walk- well, pre-pandemic, right, when we all could be in person, how do I walk into a room full of people with my cane and try to navigate all the little pods of people talking, and then to balance my cane and a beverage or plate of food, like how do I do that? That’s a lot of what Blind and Socially Savvy does. They also, this past year, put together a program that was about being virtually savvy, and it was things like interviewing from behind the screen, and making meaningful connections in a virtual world, so those will be some of the pieces that we’re bringing into the program in June for the STP students, because it’s so much of where the world is right now.
Jeff:
And if someone’s interested in this type of program, whether you’re a parent or whether you’re a student that’s listening to this, how would they go about that?
Sheila:
Probably the best thing to do would be to contact me, STP is a program that’s a collaboration between State Services for the Blind and Minnesota Department of Education and local school districts, so it is something that needs to be written into a student’s IEP, but I’m happy to connect parents or students to whoever might best be able to help them do that.
Jeff:
Oh, that’s great. That’s great that you have that collaboration between all the entities. They don’t slip through the cracks as much, you know.
Sheila:
Yeah.
Jeff:
And I’ve heard nothing but great reports over the years that this has been going on, whether it’s through STP or Duluth or down here in the office itself.
Sheila:
Yeah, well, and I think, Jeff, really, I just want to encourage students to get involved and do some programs over the summer. I know that right now things are probably going to be virtual, I don’t know that for sure yet, because I think programs are still figuring that out, but it’s really such a great way to meet other peers and just talk about the situations that are unique to people who are blind or low-vision, or deaf-blind. You mentioned the Duluth, it used to be the Duluth Center for Vision Loss, they actually changed their name a little while ago to the Duluth Center for Vital Living, because they’ve kind of expanded some of their programs, but I know that they will have some really strong student programs over the summer, and then in the metro, there’s Blind Incorporated and Vision Loss Resources too. You know, sometimes we can kind of get stuck in our own little bubble, and it’s just a great way to make those connections with other people and learn the skills that are going to help you through the rest of high school and college and work.
Jeff:
Yeah. And I’ll gather up some of that stuff and put it in the show notes, some of them have released some dates and times, what they’re gonna be doing, so it’s really exciting to see the innovations that they come up with. This pandemic has forced people to do online, and I like that, virtually savvy, because whether you like that or not, you had to figure out what Zoom was about and how to use it and stuff, and how to build those relationships which are essential, and I think networking and like the programs you have with peers, getting together and sharing ideas, it’s just a great way to do it. You know, we can go back to the day we didn’t have all this social networking or you mention the word Zoom and they go huh?
Sheila:
Right, right, right.
Jeff:
Should have bought stock in that.
Sheila:
I know, for sure, you just mentioned programs that give peers a chance to connect, and it reminded me about a program that we started, maybe back in November, called Chill and Chat, and the reason the idea kind of came about is because in my conversations with students, I could tell that they really were feeling kind of isolated, you know, their schools were online, and they weren’t really connecting with other students who were blind or visually impaired or deaf-blind, and you just said, we need those connections, right? So they were craving that, so we created this program called Chill and Chat that meets the first Tuesday of every month on Zoom, and it’s exactly what it says, like there’s not any kind of preconceived agenda other than giving students a chance to just hang out, and problem solve, and just talk about whatever they want to talk about. So that’s been kind of a cool innovation that came from this time of being virtual.
Jeff:
Yeah. You don’t realize how much, you know, there’s Clubhouse, there’s these other things that are coming up, and I think it’s just getting people together, so Chill and Chat, where they get to meet everybody, and I think if I can reflect back to when I was involved, you know, communicating, meeting new people, you still drop in on people and you hear from them and stuff like that, especially when you’re embarking upon college or something that you don’t know much about, you know, there’s so much resources out there, it’s so great that you’re bringing these entities together so that they can learn from role models or people who have already been there.
Sheila:
Yeah, and that’s really been an important part of what we do, just try to help students get the confidence and the skills so that they can live their lives.
Jeff:
You know, you have The Spectacle, and that’s a newsletter for teens, visually impaired, and parents, people involved in training, just anyone involved in enhancing the opportunities for people with visual impairments, especially the transition-age students. I’ve got to admit, you’ve done a great job and as this has evolved, it seems like now I start reading and I just want to go to the next thing, next thing, I mean I like each one but it just keeps on growing. You’ve got the Helen Keller stuff, you have the events where ASL’s gonna be available, and credits for people, it’s just well-rounded and it’s really grown, I really like it.
Sheila:
I appreciate that. I feel like what I really want to do is just set opportunities in front of people, and just try to open some doors, and make sure they know about all of the different events and programs and connecting opportunities, that’s really what I’m trying to do with the newsletter, and you know, SSB really fundamentally believes in becoming independent, and part of that is learning those skills, and connecting with other people, so it’s a place to try to put all of those options.
Jeff:
Yeah, and it’s not just for students, I would say TVIs that are reading that, there’s so many different links that they can share with other people, it’s just great to have that information. It’s based in Minnesota here, but you have some national stuff going on there, like webinars that are going on that anybody can tap into. It’s a good resource, so we’ll put a link to The Spectacle right in the show notes.
Sheila:
Awesome, and another hope from our program, because we’re always wanting to seek out other ideas, hearing reactions from people in other states and learning about things that they’re doing is also kind of a cool branch of it, too.
Jeff:
Oh, yeah. Not only are you creating networks, but it’s nice that you can network with others, and that sharing of ideas, that’s how we grow and I think with all these changes that we’ve come to over these last year, especially, I just wonder where it’s gonna go next year. This is kind of an added thing, if we go back to some form of normality or something like that, I don’t think we’ll lose this virtualness that we’ve- virtualness, is that a word?
Sheila:
I don’t know, but it works!
Jeff:
Yeah, but this being virtual-savvy, you know, I don’t think it’s gonna go away, I think if you become virtually savvy, it’s a skillset that you’re gonna have now, because like you said, interviews, can you imagine doing an interview on Zoom? They’re doing it!
Sheila:
Yep, well, and talking about this also reminds me about another opportunity for people across the country during the summer, a lot of the conventions have gone virtual too, right, because having so many thousands and thousands of people in one space really isn’t something that’s safe to do right now, but both the National Federation of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind have their conventions during the summer, and they are virtual, and they are such great places to connect with other people and to learn from other people, and just find out hey, what are some of the things that are important to people with a vision loss right now? Legislation that’s important, or what are programs that are important? I want to encourage listeners from across the country to attend those conferences too.
Jeff:
Mm-hm. We just did the C-SUN, where you could go on and listen to breakout groups and you know, actually drop in onto the exhibitors and go right into their booth and talk to someone from APH or from Aira, wherever, it’s kind of neat, but I really think the NFB and the ACB, when they did their conventions virtually, they knocked it out of the park. I was expecting, I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was well-organized, you could flow through it, you could pick and choose what you wanted and stuff like that, it was really good. I mean, they had a professional app, you know, that you could actually drop in, go here, there, and drop in anywhere you wanted to go, it was just like being at a convention but the distance was a lot shorter.
Sheila:
Yeah, right? The cool thing about the app, too, is that it kind of simulated that networking, because you could look at all the participants and then send someone a message, and so I was able to find transition coordinators in other states and just kind of send them a little message, hi, I’m Sheila from Minnesota State Services for the Blind, I’d love to hear what your state’s doing, and then instantly you have that connection.
Jeff:
Yeah.
Sheila:
Yeah.
Jeff:
I really like that application. You didn’t have to learn it, it was like the intuitiveness was right there, and oh, okay, I’m here, I’m there, yeah. I really liked it, so if you see these conferences and they’re virtual, give them a chance. Give them a try and meet some people.
Sheila:
Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.
Jeff:
Well, Sheila, is there anything else you want to share?
Sheila:
Maybe just one other thing, ‘cause we are really excited, SSB has been working with Learning Ally, they’re a college success program, to get things set up for students to be able to be a part of that program, and earlier when you mentioned the role models and connecting with peers, that is something that the Learning Ally college success program does, it opens up resources for students to attend meetups, and webinars, but then it also connects them with a mentor who is blind or visually impaired or deaf-blind, and in college right now, so it’s just a really great program, I know there are several other states doing it as well, and we’re excited to have that up and running, really within the next month or so here in Minnesota.
Jeff:
Really? That’s pretty cool. Do you remember when BookShare came about?
Sheila:
I do.
Jeff:
We were in a room, all of us were in a room and they were announcing it and stuff, and I still have two or three connections from that room when I was at the convention, we all got our free BookShare, still around though, all this stuff.
Sheila:
Yeah, it’s really lasted the stretch of time.
Jeff:
It has. So has what you guys are doing there at SSB for transition students, so keep up the good work and thanks for coming on and sharing all of this, we’re gonna put a lot of stuff in the show notes here for a resource, so check it out, and thanks for coming on!
Sheila:
Oh, thanks for having me, and if any of your listeners, students, teachers, parents in Minnesota have ideas of things that would be helpful for them, please reach out, I’d absolutely love to keep building our programs.
Jeff:
And how can they reach you?
Sheila:
They can email me at sheila.koenig@state.mn.us.
Jeff:
Sheila Koenig, thank you so much for being here, and we’ll stay in touch.
Sheila:
Awesome, thanks Jeff.
Pete:
And from all of us here at Blind Abilities, through these challenging times, to you, your family, and friends, stay well, stay informed, and stay strong. Thank you so much for listening and have a great day.
[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.
Jeff:
For more podcasts with a blindness perspective, check us out on the web at www.blindabilities.com, on Twitter @BlindAbilities, download our app from the app store, Blind Abilities, that’s two words, or send us an email at info@blindabilities.com. Thanks for listening.
Contact Your State Services
If you reside in Minnesota, and you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Services contact Transition Coordinator Sheila Koenig by email or contact her via phone at 651-539-2361.
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