{"id":9682,"date":"2026-11-03T11:56:55","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T17:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=9682"},"modified":"2026-11-03T12:16:49","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T18:16:49","slug":"tools-for-school-college-planning-cool-tech-and-student-connections","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=9682","title":{"rendered":"Tools for School: College Planning, Cool Tech, and Student Connections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Podcast Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What comes after high school, and how can you help shape what happens next? In this Tools for School episode, State Services for the Blind counselors Lindsey and Kat explain how to build a relationship with your counselor, prepare for college, and speak up for the support you need. Students and parents will hear practical guidance on technology assessments, campus travel training, financial aid paperwork, and getting approval before making purchases. Questions from the audience bring the process into focus. Earl Harrison of Selvas BLV introduces technology including the BrailleSense 7, with touch-sensitive braille cells and Smart Scroll, alongside braille displays and magnification options. SSB assistive technology specialists add more possibilities. Then Peer Ambassadors Preston and Ava get students talking, laughing, and swapping strategies for identifying groceries and matching clothes. From counselor conversations to everyday problem-solving, this interactive session invites you to ask questions, explore tools, and take the lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Links of interest:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

College Student Panel \u2013 Tools for School<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Spectacle Newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Youth Services at SSB<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To find out more about the services provided at State Services for the Blind, and what they can do for you, contact Shane DeSantis at shane.desantis@state.mn.us<\/a> or call Shane at 651-385-5205.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Transcript<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff:<\/strong> Welcome to Blind Abilities. I\u2019m Jeff Thompson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

{Music}<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff:<\/strong> We\u2019re continuing our Tools for School series from Minnesota State Services for the Blind, where students, parents, counselors, and technology specialists came together to explore the tools and skills that help students prepare for life after high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this episode, we\u2019re taking you back to the beginning of the event. Transition Coordinator Shane DeSantis welcomes everyone and sets the tone for a day of questions, conversation, and participation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll hear from Earl Harrison of Selvas BLV, formerly HIMS, with a look at technology available to explore, including the Braille Sense 7 and its touch-sensitive braille display. SSB assistive technology specialist Jesse Anderson also introduces<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 some of the tools they\u2019ve brought along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then we get into a conversation that students and parents will want to hear. Counselors Lindsey and Kat talk about working with SSB, planning for college, and keeping communication going long before that first semester begins. They discuss technology needs, getting around campus, financial aid, documents, and why it\u2019s important to talk with your counselor before paying for something you hope SSB will cover. Parents in the audience ask questions that<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 help make those steps clearer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And students, you\u2019ll hear a message throughout: this is your future, and your voice belongs in the conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And to wrap things up, Peer Ambassadors Preston and Ava bring their fellow students into an icebreaker with some everyday challenges. How do you identify your groceries? How do you put together an outfit? You\u2019ll hear students share their favorite tools, compare approaches, and have some fun along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s plenty of interaction in this episode, so come on into the room with us. Here\u2019s Shane DeSantis to get Tools for School underway. We hope you enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shane: <\/strong>Thank you all for being here today. My name is Shane DeSantis. For those of you who don’t know me, I am the transition coordinator with State Services for the blind. I’m happy to put this workshop together again. This would be the second time we’ve put this event together. We held it back in 2024, and we’re happy to be here together in 2026. We’ve got a variety of SSB staff here. We have some technology vendors who are going to be here today. And we have also Jeff Thompson with blind abilities. If anyone has ever listened to or if you haven’t listened to the Blind Abilities podcast, definitely encourage you to check that out. He does a lot of great stuff, and I know some of our students have been on the podcast before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have a day filled with some conversation, some demonstrations, some time to try out the technology that we have here today. And I want this day to be interactive. I want you guys to chime in. Let us know your questions, participate in any of the panel discussions. If you have a question for a panel member, feel free to raise your hand or just say, hi, I have a question and butt in. Some of our presenters will be blind, so raising a hand, they might not see your hand. So if you do have a question, just interject yourself. Share your question, say your name and we are more than happy to take questions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earl, do you want to do a little introduction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earl:<\/strong> Sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shane:<\/strong> Go on. I’ll pass the mic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earl: <\/strong>Hey everybody, how are you doing? My name is Earl Harrison. I am the national account manager for Selvas. Formerly Hims Incorporated. We changed our name because this other Hims that’s on TV and radio, and we changed our name to Selvas BLV as kind of a doing business as.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I brought with me today, the Braille Sense 7. Very clever with our naming conventions. You know, the last one was the Braille sense. 6 so but the. 7 the main differentiator between that and probably our closest competitor is the touch capacitive Braille cells. So now everybody’s gotten used to using gestures for navigating iPhones and Google phones and things like that. You can now do that directly on the Braille display, as well as invoke something called Smart Scroll, which allows you to read documents from beginning to end without the need to press buttons because it knows where your fingers are. It does, I think, a very clever thing, a smart scroll. It waits till you get back to the beginning of the Braille line before it actually advances on, because, you know, maybe you might want to go back and review the spelling of a word or something like that. We don’t want you to have to, you know, press that pesky scroll up button to do that. So we wait till you get back to the beginning line. It very quickly moves on. So it’s a very, very fluid way of reading Braille.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also have the Braille Emotion, which is our 40 cell Braille display, which also doubles as a multimedia reader and book reader as well. You can connect up to six devices simultaneously if you’re geeky enough to want to do that. But certainly most of us can think of probably 3 or 4, maybe five things that you might want to connect to simultaneously and switch between a lot of the internal apps that are on our Braille Sense product are also on the Braille Emotion 40 cell Braille display. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are one of probably 20 distributors of the Dot Pad here in the United States, and I do have a Dot Pad here, as well as a Sense Player, which is our answer to the Victor Reader stream on steroids because it’s, you know, we’ve got apps, third party apps that you can actually install on it like Zoom and Netflix and Spotify and things like that you can use. You could also do things like web radio, web TV, all that kind of stuff. So I have one more thing. It’s not a real thing. It’s at the low vision thing. I gotta tell you, I feel a little self-conscious about demoing it as a totally blind person, but it is called the Go Vision Move. It is our transportable magnifier where it is because I don’t have first hand experience or first I experience with it is that the image quality is superb and we have a unique feature called Pen Tracking that actually you put a sticker at the end of a paintbrush or a pen or a pencil or something, and the image will actually track that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it makes it’s, you know, it’s good for writing. I do have an artist who says she’s going to put these stickers that it tracks on the end of all of her paint brushes and things like that. So that’s pretty cool. And just another story about the, the magnifiers that I had a bunch of folks in my hotel room at ATIA this last time looking at the go vision move. And they were using the distance camera from my hotel room, and they actually told me that they could see things with the distance camera that they could not see with the naked eye, because somehow it was, it actually filtered the glare. So that was exciting to hear too. So that was my experience with, you know, having some of the most critical people right there to tell me that this is actually a pretty solid product and it comes in a pretty low price point as well. So I’m excited to interact with you guys and have some discussions. And anybody who might like chocolate, I do. I bought some chocolate jack o lanterns from Costco yesterday. So thank you guys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shane: <\/strong>Awesome. Thank you. And then we will be having Eric from the Vision store join us as well Later this morning we will have some more low vision devices. Magnifiers. I think he is bringing the Braille Evolve. So really quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesse: <\/strong>I’m Jesse Anderson. Some of you may have heard of me or had to deal with me as well. I’m one of the assistive technology specialists with SSB and in addition to our vendors over there, Earl and Eric, Mr. Hess and I here, John Hess is right next to me. We have some variety of different technology options here. We’ve got laptops with screen readers, screen magnification stuff on there. We also have Braille displays. So I believe like I have a Mantis Q 40, which is a 40 keyboard style QWERTY Braille display. And I think, John, you have the Brilliant with you. Okay, the Brilliant 20 so it’s basically like the e-reader. And I do have the BARD reader, which is kind of a stripped down version of the Brilliant. And then on top of that, we also have some smart glasses over here. So we do have things like the glasses and the not quite fully released yet. I don’t know when they’re going to actually do that, but we’ll talk more about that later this afternoon. The Echo Vision glasses. So these are smart glasses that can your you can be hands free and have things read aloud to you, describe to you. And we’ll be hopefully with technology behaving itself this afternoon. We will be showing you some of that stuff. So you know again, if you’re on break lunchtime this afternoon, just know that we have a few things over here as well and I’ll pass it back to Shane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shane: Awesome, <\/strong>thank you guys. So yeah, John and Jesse are two of our assistive technologist here at SSB. We will be talking with you guys more about how they work with individuals to help them gain the tech skills for employment and sharing some of these devices that they see individuals liking, using and having that benefit for in the workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, we have two counselors who are going to talk with you guys a little bit about working with SSB in your journey during high school and beyond. So how we work with students who want to go off to college and our support there, if you’re going to college or how we help individuals get jobs after high school. So I will pass the mic to Kat and Linsey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lindsey: <\/strong>Good morning. We’re going to do some introductions here. So my name is Lindsey Escalera. I am a vocational rehabilitation counselor here at State Services for the Blind. And I serve students like yourselves in the metro. So I serve blind, low vision and DeafBlind. So really nice to meet you and good to see some familiar faces. I\u2019m going to pass it to Kat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kat: <\/strong>Good morning. My name is Kat and I am a counsellor in the South-East region, so I primarily serve Rochester and the surrounding area with smaller counties. This is a good group and I’m really intimidated. It looks like really smart people in the room. I suddenly got all nervous and oh what hope I say the right thing. But yeah, Lindsay and I are here to talk today about bridging the gap to where you are now and getting you to where you need to be after graduation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lindsey:<\/strong> Shane is passing around our student handbook for college. So if you’re interested in college, that is something that we go over with our students on how SSB can help you and some of our requirements for our students. I did want to share this with you and just kind of talk about some key points that we like to do. So first and foremost, if you’re thinking about college then.. definitely let your counselor know that’s the first step. And then we have our assistant technologist, Jesse Andersson, who’s in the room. We like to submit a referral to Jesse so that he can see where you’re at with your assistive technology skills and what equipment you may need for college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because when you exit out of high school, if there’s any equipment you’re using that goes back to your high school. So we want to be able to support you and figure out, okay, you’re using this right now. Let’s continue to use that. So that may be something that we can help you with. So definitely let us know. And like right now with my graduating seniors, I’ve sent out emails to kind of get that started because I know fall 2027 will be here fast. So we want to try to get those assessments done. And if there’s any equipment that we need to order, we want to make sure that we get that in for you. Also, thinking about which colleges that you’re thinking about. And you should know that there’s Minnesota state colleges and there’s out of state colleges and there’s private institutions. So SSB, we follow mostly the Minnesota state colleges. And we do have a fee schedule for like an out of state college or a private college, just so you know, that that there could be some different costs there. Private colleges seem to be a little bit more expensive, so you may have more out of pocket costs. So if your major is at a local Minnesota State College, we would encourage you to apply because we can help more in that aspect. But obviously this is your journey and where you want to go. So just keep that open communication with us and we can help you navigate. Right now it is October. It’s the free application month for Minnesota state colleges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if you’re thinking about going to a Minnesota State College, I encourage you to get on that website and apply because they’re waiving the application fee, which is amazing. So if you need help with that as well, let us know. We’re more than happy to help you. We actually have a session coming up November 2nd. It’s a Monday. We are helping students with applying doing those applications. We’re going to send out a Zoom link as well so we can reach more students. But yeah, again, if if you can’t make that November 2nd, you can always reach out to your counselor and set up a different day. I know I’m doing that with one of my students. So yeah. And then secondly, we offer our orientation mobility framing. So if you’re thinking about a college and you’re like, oh my gosh, I’ve never been there. We have O&M specialists that can go with you and map out, okay, these are where your classes will be and kind of give you those key points on where you need to go. Where’s the services for students with Disabilities office, like finding those different places on campus and making that map for you is going to be super helpful. So again, let us know where you’re thinking because we like to also do that referral and get you connected with an O&M specialist. Another really important thing is when you start to apply and you’re filling out your Fafsa and you get your class schedule and you’re looking at like, if you’re going to stay on campus, room and board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those are all documents that counselors are going to need so that we can do our math and figure out, okay, what is this going to cost? How much financial aid is the student getting? Is there anything left over and applying SBS fee schedule? So we just like to make sure we have all that information. We request that seven days in advance before the semester starts, but you can submit it earlier, which is preferred. So we can just make sure we get all those calculations done. And again, if you need help pulling those documents like we just did a few months ago, we had a session where students came in and we helped them pull those documents because sometimes it’s like, where do I find that I’m in my e-services, but how do I pull my class schedule? So again, just I think the most important thing today is reach out. Ask your counselor for help because that’s what we’re here for. Another important thing is just making sure that we don’t purchase anything before we get like supervisor approval. Make sure we have authorization in place in case there’s something that we may be reimbursing to you because we can’t go back and go, oh, yep, so and so bought textbooks, we can’t do that. So that’s just again, another important reason to keep in touch with us so that we can make sure we have everything in place. We have the green light and we’re good to go. I think I will pass it to Kat and. Yeah. Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kat: <\/strong>Thanks, Lindsay. Okay. I am gonna try to focus on what I talk about on, I think, three very important things. The first being communication with your counselor just by a show of hands. Um, if you’re brave enough, how many of you talk to your counselor at SSB on a regular basis? Three. Four. Five. About five hands. Okay. We are hoping. Well, what I think all counselors would love to see, and I’m sure you would too, is talking to your counselors more and communicating with them and being proactive with your services. I want to use an example of a meeting that I had actually just yesterday with a student. I met with the student, the TBI, and we had a half hour session at the beginning of the school day yesterday, and the purpose of the meeting was to meet with the student, who is currently a senior, and start the conversation of what comes after high school. What comes next? During that conversation, it was a really we started off very, very broad, she said. I wanted. The student said, I want to take a gap year. Okay. That’s great. What do you want to do during that gap year? I don’t know. The student also said after the gap year, I want to go to college. Great. Do you know where you want to go to college? No, I don’t know. So you can kind of hear the theme coming that I don’t know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that’s why it’s so important to start these conversations now. And having that perspective from your counselor that you know is following you along on this journey, whether you started with them at 14 or 18 or even after, it’s our job to get you from point A to point B successfully. What I really want to impart with you today is the importance of that communication. And I’m also going to challenge each of you to reach out to your counselor because you are in the driver’s seat of your own life. And that’s what I told the student that I met with yesterday. So we talked. She has a lot of I don’t knows, and we are going to continue to meet. Once we agreed to meet once a month for half an hour to figure out how do we get from, I don’t know, to this is what I want to do. And then once we kind of detach that safety net that has been built around you as students, you know, to carry you through high school, once that safety net is detached, we want you to be as prepared as possible to say, I’m somewhat ready to go out into the real world. I can’t promise you that despite all our efforts and services, that you’re going to be fully prepared because I’m sure Lindsey, Shane, any of SSB staff, what we’ve come to find out that as much as we prepare as much proactiveness that we put into it, there are still obstacles and barriers that present themselves along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I get students calls all the time, or text messages or emails. Things happen on the drop of a dime. And we want you to be prepared to know who to reach out to, to have resources, but more importantly, to be able to communicate those and share what the obstacles are and for you to be a part of the solution as well. A lot of times people can fall into the habit of relying on others to solve all our problems, but we really want to empower students to speak for themselves and make these important decisions. So communication is absolutely vital with what comes next. So whether or not you’re a freshman or sophomore, you’re a senior preparing. Start the conversations now. Invite your counselors to IEP meetings. Communicate the good as well. I tell the students that I work with all the time. I don’t want to hear just the struggles. I don’t want to hear just the obstacles and barriers. I want to hear the good that we want to get the whole picture of you as a human being, and you know who you are. Going forth into the world and the successes are just as important as the barriers. And you all should be celebrated for those successes that you achieve, whatever that looks like for you as individuals. So that student that I use, that example, we’re meeting half an hour once a month just to talk and plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That may look different for you. You, you know, we understand that you all are busy, whether it be sports, extracurriculars, family, there’s a lot on your plate. But if you can make that time and communicate with your counselor and really establish that working relationship, the more successful you’re going to be. And Lindsey brought up excellent points about the college documents for those who are planning to attend college. I can’t emphasize enough that having that relationship and communication with your counselor is going to be key because once that time ramps up, I would say like a month, month and a half before school, you all will start to feel a little bit of panic because now you’re thinking about, okay, I know where I’m going to go to college, but now I got to figure out, you know, about moving. And Lindsay talked about the orientation and mobility. We want to make sure that you can live and travel independently in your community and around campus. Then you’re going to be thinking about your classes and studying and homework and, and, and so there’s always going to be more ands. We obviously aren’t going to get everything right, but just having that strong foundation is going to set you up for long term success. And that leads me to my next point of student disability services or access services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every college is a little bit different with how they word things, and not only with disability access services, but all the documents that we were talking about. So that’s something you can be proactive of kind of familiarize yourself with what the documents are that we’re talking about and talk to your counselors. We can help you and those opportunities that are coming up where we can meet with you one on one or virtually. We can do that at any time. But I would also just strongly, strongly encourage you all to develop that. Again, working relationship with disability services, whether or not you plan to use it at all or not, that’s going to be incredibly powerful resource and tool for you if things go wrong, especially with testing, you find yourself struggling or you’re having technology issues. I mentioned disability services because SSB while we’re here, sometimes it can take a little bit of time to get things, you know, to address an issue, to purchase something, to get training going. So disability services is going to be kind of your first line of defense to an obstacle or barrier that’s in your way. So meet with them, interview them, ask lots of questions. Really. I hope that when you visit colleges that I don’t want to say it’s the most important thing, but it’s a very important element as to where you decide to go. I have seen, and I’m sure Lindsey would agree with me, that the students that have strong support systems, including through disability services or their academic advisors, are the most successful because they’re going to use their advocacy skills and talk to those people first, but then also bring in SSB, So we’re aware of the situation and can collaborate and support you if possible. So again, that point of communication is just vital in this whole thing, this journey called life and what comes afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did want to just talk a little bit about FAFSA. Are there any parents in. Okay. A few parents. Great. So with SSB and getting prepared to go to college, there is a little bit of a disconnect sometimes, like what’s SSB doing the staff and what am I supposed to be doing? Again, communication. Ask us. We’re going to navigate you through that process. I wanted to bring up Fafsa though, for the parents and stress this because it will be the parent’s responsibility to complete that Fafsa application online. That’s one of the required documents. And that is the means that you will find out if you qualify for any student loans, if you receive any grants or scholarships, it’s an estimate you won’t. The final financial aid award letter until after you’ve applied, but that’s the document that SSB will need in order to calculate the cost of what we can contribute to you going to school. I believe FAFSA is open or open. yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parent: <\/strong>So yeah, we just did that FAFSA last week. We talked about that letter. So we will be getting something eventually showing a breakdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kat: <\/strong>Yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parent: <\/strong>Okay. So we applied for school already did the FAFSA, that should be coming. That’d be the piece that we need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kat: <\/strong>Yes. And that’s great. First of all, excellent. You’re on top of it. Way to go. Yeah. The final financial aid award letter usually populates closer to the actual start of the semester. So it was the application for fall 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parent: <\/strong>Yeah. Things coming fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kat: <\/strong>Okay. So yeah, it will generate that estimate for you. It won’t be the final calculation. So most wouldn’t you say, Lindsey, that it’s available. Every school is a little bit different, but it’s going to be way closer to the start of the semester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parent: <\/strong>It’ll show us than what we would have to pay after SSB contributes grants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kat: <\/strong>Yes, yes. So we use a calculator. We have this calculation system. We plug in a bunch of numbers. That’s where the VR Techs and there’s a couple in the room. Woo hoo. They are amazing. Shout out to the VR Techs. They’re behind the scenes crunching numbers and making sure things are accurate and that’s why the documents, the required documents are so important. You need to get them in in a timely manner. And again, if you’re talking with your counselor, that shouldn’t be an issue. Sometimes things are delayed or we might not be able to access something that’s okay. That’s, that’s part of the process. The important thing is sharing that with your counselor. If you’re struggling to get something, we can work through that. As long as we know that you’re struggling with the fees and everything that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parent:<\/strong> we’re supposed to let you guys know before we pay anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kat: <\/strong>Correct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parent: <\/strong>Right. So we did all the application stuff already didn’t know that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kat: <\/strong>So oh, like the application fee apply?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parent:<\/strong> Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kat:<\/strong> sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parent: <\/strong>Contact our counselor and say, hey, we already applied. We got accepted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kat: <\/strong>And yeah, well, you haven’t paid for the semester, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parent: I mean, nothings <\/strong>Been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kat: <\/strong>Just the application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parent: <\/strong>Okay, $300 we have to pay now to kind of get everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kat: <\/strong>Yeah. Okay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parent: <\/strong>We let our counselor know before we pay that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kat: Correct, <\/strong>yeah. Well, and that’s that great. Brings up a great point. I see one of the students with their hand up, I will. I’ll get to you. I just don’t want your arm to get tired, I see you. Yes, when it comes to payments from SSB and so you’ll hear the word authorize a lot. Authorize, authorize, authorization. What that means is once we receive your documents and we calculate the costs of, it’s going to be a breakdown of what you are responsible for. If you’re receiving any grants or tuitions or scholarships. And then after that, it shows us what SSB can contribute. So all of those are taken into consideration once that happens. So you mentioned like the application fee, if you ask your counselor and say for whatever reason this is necessary to, you know, my son’s well, the student should ask first of all, but say this is necessary for my success, you know, will help with my education and job goals. The counselor will. Then you’ll have to get a quote of what the cost would be. We take it to our supervisor and do a write up, a justification of why we support it and why we would like to fund it for the student. If it’s approved. Then behind the scenes we entered into our system which generates that authorization. That authorization is what we send to the schools or whoever the business or person is for payment. So that’s why it’s so imperative that you don’t pay for anything unless there’s an authorization in place. And I have one last thing to add is our yeah, our time is about up. I challenge all of you to reach out to your counselor and say, what’s a fee schedule for college? Start that conversation. That might be a great question to get the discussion going. Well, thank you so much. We’re really, really happy and excited to be with you today. Let us know if you have any questions and thank you for coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shane: <\/strong>We’re going to dive right into our Peer Ambassador activity and I’ll just let you guys take it away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ava: <\/strong>Hi guys. We are the peer ambassadors. My name is Ava. We are your peer ambassadors. Currently I’m a senior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preston:<\/strong> And I’m a junior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ava:<\/strong> We have like a little really quick icebreaker, kind of. I know the icebreakers are kind of like, oh, but we have like a little quick icebreaker activity for you guys before we have a break really fast. We just want everyone to go around and just say like name pronouns. If you want age and name grade and what technology you use in school, if you’re in college, I guess like your, your stage of college. Okay. Um, so yeah, if we could just go around the room with a quick circle and make that happen, that would be wonderful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student: <\/strong>My name is Jacob.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student: <\/strong>My name is Lucas. I’m 16, I’m a junior, and I use my Chromebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student: <\/strong>My name is Shawn. I am 15, a sophomore. My friends are he him and I do in fact use iPad Pro and a MacBook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student: <\/strong>Hi everyone. For those who don’t know me, my name is Sigma. I go there to visit a transition program, and the assistive technology that I use is an iPad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student:<\/strong> I’m Noah. I also go to transitions program. I use a touchscreen laptop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student: <\/strong>My name is Laura Senior. I’m good. I’m a senior. I like for laptop computer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student: <\/strong>My name is Jake. I’m 17 years old. I know, I don’t even know who I am. I am a senior this year and I use an iPad Pro I am 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student: <\/strong>I am a senior in iPhone 13 mini Dell laptop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student: <\/strong>My name is Danny. I’m going to be a junior and I use an iPad with like a attachable keyboard. And then also I use my phone and the monitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student: <\/strong>Hi, my name is Katya. I am a junior in high school and I use an iPad with an attached keyboard. And I also use a Dell laptop. And like outside of school, I use like my phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student: <\/strong>My name is Riley. I go to Minnewaska area high school, I’m a senior and I use it on Touch Plus and a laptop with NVDA because I went away from Jaws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shane: <\/strong>So good to hear that many of you are using laptops. That is a good thing we want to hear if you’re not using a laptop yet, chat with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preston: <\/strong>all right, so our main activity that we wanted to do with you guys today, we’re going to basically give you guys a couple scenarios and it’s going to be choose your own adventure style thing where you have to come up with what technology you would use to complete the task. They’re like independent living, like daily life kind of tasks. Now, what I’m curious about is whether we want to do this as like a large group discussion, like round table kind of thing, or do we want to get into groups? What do we think?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

as long as we’re ready? What I’m thinking here is you got yourself a bunch of groceries, which is something you’re going to need to do, and then you get home, but you’re not going to rely on another human being to help you put those groceries away. So what technology might you use to see what you have so you know where it goes? And like, how would you use it? What would you do with said technology? How about we discuss in our groups for like, um, yeah, like a, yeah, let’s do a minute and then we’ll share out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ava:<\/strong> All right guys. And that would be time. Let’s start with the group to my right. What did we come up with?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student: <\/strong>What we talked about was for me, I said iPad. The other said we’d use the magnifier to look at the labels and everything. Good stuff You are using for Cindy and I.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ava: <\/strong>So far as group was going to use CNI on their iPhone. All right, let’s go to the middle group here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student: <\/strong>What we talked about was, uh, seeing AI, Be My Eyes. Um, if you’re like me and your hand shakes like heck when you start using your phone on me, my eyes might well just move about AI glasses. Because if you, if you try to hold up your phone to the grocery in your hand, start shaking, well, you got problems. Um, also magnification device if, uh, if you’re low vision also the be my eyes call. I didn’t say this to the group but be my eyes call a volunteer. Um, with your glasses will actually work. Uh, in my opinion, a lot better than trying to use your phone as a camera just because they can see. And then, you know, if your hand starts shaking and things start going south, well, you’re fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preston: <\/strong>I will share just because I know that part of this is also like sharing our experiences. Be my eyes is great. If if there are some of you who don’t like talking to strange people that you don’t know on the phone. Meta Glasses have a feature called Live AI, where the AI has an active view of what you’re seeing and can kind of talk in a conversation like video call style as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ava: <\/strong>I will say also. I am a person who doesn’t like to use, um, the common volunteer because I also don’t like talking to people as much, but there are and probably still will be times where you might have to rely on like a sighted person’s help, um, just simply because sometimes it just can’t see the tiny little labels. So just be open to different like possibilities..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preston:<\/strong> exactly. Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student: <\/strong>I mean, my fingers aren’t that twitchy. I mean, but yeah, I probably will. So. Yeah. I like it a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ava:<\/strong> I have a second scenario for you guys. Um, it’s kind of similar to the grocery thing. I, as a senior, am thinking a lot about going to college and whether that is the path you’re choosing or not, you are eventually going to have to do something called color matching, which I’m sure everyone kind of knows. It’s very hard as a visually impaired person to always know like what you’re wearing or like what colors go with which other colors. Um, like in terms of like, um, making sure that what you’re wearing looks, uh, well put together. What I want to know is how you guys color match. Like, how do you know what types of like what types of clothing or like what types of, um, colors go with each other or just how you generally like label your outfits to know that they go together. Let’s do like another minute of discussion for that one, as long as that work, does that feel like a good time for everybody? Okay, great. All right, perfect. One minute starts now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ava: <\/strong>All right, that’s time. Let’s switch it up and start with the opposite end of where we started last time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student: <\/strong>Uh, we talked about for, uh, for us boys, it’s easier to get, um, black or gray shorts, shorts or pants that can go with legit any shirt. Um, so, so you boys out there take note. Also, I’m in wrestling, So some of our clothes that we wear on match days, it’s not the same game days, match days. Um, they have our logo, which is just a big, um, just a big block M engraved into our pants or shorts so we can, so I can easily match those up and they like match also, uh, memorizing. Okay. How did this outfit feel when my mom put this in my outfit organizer? How did, how did like, how did she do it? Also just memorizing the fabric texture. And like I said, just like I said, for you girls, it might be a little different, but for us boys just get like plain ish colored shorts for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student: <\/strong>We’ll say as a current wearer of all black, it’s actually not that different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student: <\/strong>Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. Thank you for pointing that out. I was wondering the same theing.Shane: <\/strong>Group two um, what’s the point?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student: <\/strong>So what we talked about is for us boys, it’s easy for us to recognize what we’re going to wear. For me personally, I would say I would go with gray pants, black shirt, black sweatshirt. My magnifier at home. My dome magnifier. I have one small one. So. And then I. I’m supposed to get a big one, but I haven’t gotten it yet, so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shane: <\/strong>Donnie, do you want to add something?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student: <\/strong>Okay. Since the discussion has kind of been all about, like, how boys can do it. Um, I’m going to say like, I’m going to say, like how I do it or like how some other girls could do it. Basically, I just like memorize what each piece of my clothing looks like, which sounds like a lot, but it’s not a lot because I don’t buy that much clothes. And also that, or I can like use BMI to like, just tell me generally what the color is. And then like, I can just be like, oh, tell me more about the shade. And then I can like pair them together. But yeah, that’s how I do it. And then I don’t have to wear black and gray and be sad looking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student: <\/strong>Go, Donnie. Go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ava: <\/strong>Thank you for representing. Awesome. Um, yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student: <\/strong>Black is emo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ava: <\/strong>So judgment aside, all teasing aside, all, <\/strong>black is not emo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preston: <\/strong>Okay, so those are our two main scenarios for today. We just wanted to talk a little bit about some things that we might have coming up and maybe get a little bit of input. We have been attempting for a while to schedule another volunteer experience with every meal. I haven’t been yet. I was not able to make the first one, but I know that it’s a really beneficial activity. And Ava, you can speak to it a little bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ava: Yeah, <\/strong>I can tell you guys about it also, like we’re having a break after this. So if any of you guys want to ask, um, sighted people to like direct you to where we are, we’ll be mingling around and you can ask us like personal questions about like specific things because I can tell you guys about the volunteer thing. Like essentially what we’re trying to do is like create some like community based volunteer experiences for you guys. I think our next one will probably be in like December. It’s just a bit difficult to like schedule events just in general. Um, yeah, we would love like your guys’s feedback on dates that you’re able to go to the volunteer things. And also just like whether you want them, because we’ll keep doing them anyway, because I think that they are really good resume builders. And they also just like make us visually impaired people like more interactive with like our community. So definitely look out for those events and also just keep looking out for also like we do, like some virtual events. I know like a couple of you guys have been to some of the chilling chats is what we like to call them. They’re virtual and can also be in person. So any of those kind of events coming up, like if any of you guys have any questions about them or anything, feel free to text us. Our numbers are like publicly available. So you can just ask like your counselor or Shane or even us here today. Our emails are available. Yeah, I would say definitely. Just like, would you agree? Just like talk to us if you have any personal questions, but we can also give you a quick overview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ava: <\/strong>Yeah. I will say, how many of you were at our pizza party last year that are in this room? Were you Kendra?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student:<\/strong> Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ava:<\/strong> Okay. She was with us, like the whole time. Oh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All right. So how many of you would maybe be interested. And we can send out like a feedback form to, but like, would that be something you guys have interested in doing again this year? Like a winter break, kind of get together party kind of thing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, it would not be, yeah, it would not be like this. It would just be like, we hang out, we make a playlist, we listen to music, we play games, we eat pizza. We sometimes decorate cookies depending on interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ava: <\/strong>Literally just like organized hangout of blind folk. So yeah, exactly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preston: <\/strong>Because that’s what we’re here for. I don’t know if everyone here knows what peer ambassadors do, but we’re essentially just here to be the connector between SSB in general and your experience as a blind person. That’s what we’re here for because we’re also in SSB. We’re also like struggling through the transition. We’re also here to learn. So we just want to like be able to communicate with you guys and hang out and do events and just like chill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All right, so it is 10:00. Any questions for us? That would be good for the good of the group. Otherwise, as Ava said during break, we will definitely be open to more questions individually so neither of us can see. So if you have a question, just go ahead and shout out your name. Awesome. Thank you guys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

{Music}<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff:<\/strong> And thank you to State Services for the Blind for bringing students, families, and educators together for Tools for School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll continue sharing more conversations, demonstrations, and resources from the event in upcoming episodes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow Blind Abilities wherever you get your podcasts to catch the next installment in our Tools for School series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m Jeff Thompson. Thanks for listening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

{Music}<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>Be sure to check out and subscribe to the Spectacle newsletter and learn about all the upcoming events and opportunities, and be sure to check out the numerous podcasts on the news for teens page, and you’ll find the links right in the show notes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To find out more about all the programs at State Services for the Blind, contact Shane.DeSantis@State.Mn.us <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s Shane dot d-e-s-a-n-t-i-s at state.mn .us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

{Music}<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be sure to contact your State Services for the Blind, your Voc Rehab and find out what they can do for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Live. work. Read. Succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Music] [Transition noise]  –<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we share-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we see<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Through each other\u2019s eyes\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Podcast Summary: What comes after high school, and how can you help shape what happens next? In this Tools for School episode, State Services for the Blind counselors Lindsey and Kat explain how to build a relationship with your counselor, prepare for college, and speak up for the support you need. Students and parents will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9311,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9682","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P6rcRg-2wa","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8713,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=8713","url_meta":{"origin":9682,"position":0},"title":"From Audio Books, Braille to Broadcast: Behind the Scenes at State Services for the Blind – A Tour Through SSB\u2019s Communication Center","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"June 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Podcast Summary: Ever wonder how a book becomes Braille? Or how an employee manual turns into an audio file? The students of the Summer Transition Program (STP) at the University of St. Thomas got to see it all firsthand! During their visit to State Services for the Blind\u2019s Communication Center,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8518,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=8518","url_meta":{"origin":9682,"position":1},"title":"The Future of Accessibility: Tools for Success in Education and Beyond: Insights from Jesse Anderson","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"December 16, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Episode Page Podcast Summary: Jesse Anderson, Assistive Technology Specialist at State Services for the Blind of Minnesota, discusses the latest advancements in assistive technology for high school and college students. He highlights tools like Aira's AccessAI, BeMyAI, JAWS, and smart glasses, emphasizing the importance of learning both mobile and computer-based\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5002,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=5002","url_meta":{"origin":9682,"position":2},"title":"Career Expo: From College to Blindness Training and Not Living Within 10 Minutes From Home, Meet Teacher of the Blind and Visually Impaired, Beth McGarr.","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"May 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Jeff Thompson:Welcome to Blind Abilities. I'm Jeff Thompson. Speaker 2: Okay, so State Services actually played a huge part in everything that I'm doing. Speaker 3: Don't be afraid. Get out there. Meet people. Be friendly. Nobody is judging you. Speaker 4: Think big. Look at what do\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Image of man with cane and woman with service dog and City Skyline with Job Insights in bold letters.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobinsights.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobinsights.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobinsights.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobinsights.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobinsights.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobinsights.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5091,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=5091","url_meta":{"origin":9682,"position":3},"title":"Career Expo: Life Throws Curves – Get a Well-Balanced and Broad Foundation, Meet Manager of Braille Programs – Jennifer Dunnam","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"June 6, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Jeff Thompson:Welcome to Blind Abilities. I'm Jeff Thompson. Speaker 2: Okay, so state services actually played a huge part in everything that I'm doing. Speaker 3: Don't be afraid. Get out there, meet people, be friendly. Nobody is judging you. Speaker 4: Think big. Look at what do\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Image of man with cane and woman with service dog and City Skyline with Job Insights in bold letters.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobinsights.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobinsights.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobinsights.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobinsights.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobinsights.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobinsights.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8638,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=8638","url_meta":{"origin":9682,"position":4},"title":"Peer Perspectives: How SSB Helps Students Build Independence and Explore Careers","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"March 31, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Audio web Page Podcast Summary: This Blind Abilities episode features peer ambassadors Amy and Maddy, who share how Minnesota\u2019s State Services for the Blind (SSB) has supported their educational and vocational journeys. 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