What is it that “they” say? ….. Time flies when you are having fun!  I guess there is a lot of fun happening at NCECBVI as we can’t believe that March has already arrived.  We are hoping that with a new (almost) spring month arriving, we will find warmer temps and less flu bugs, sniffles and coughs!

As you maybe heard, we had some excitement here recently as one of our "pull" fire alarms was triggered in the kitchen area and set off a full fire alarm which brought Nebraska City's "finest" in fire and police departments racing to NCECBVI!  We have been doing some work on our fire alarms and the security system, and we discovered our new pull alarms are very sensitive – even if they are bumped.  This unplanned false alarm turned out to be a learning experience for all .... including our surprised students and staff.   As one of our students nicely stated, “At least we know that they work!”  We have an excellent fire department in Nebraska City, and we found out how quickly they respond and the support they provide!

Planning, planning, planning is the name of the game at NCECBVI.  Sometimes we have to stop and enjoy the moment as we are always looking ahead and what is next on the calendar.  We are already reviewing staffing plans, schedules and ideas for next year.  We are anticipating two new students in 08-09 who will be in the ILU program.  So we will be expanding our apartments and adding one to the girls’ dorm this summer.  We are also busy planning the Follow Me and See Parent Training for April 27-28 and other workshops and programs. 

We have enclosed information on additional opportunities for parents and families:

·  Our annual Spring Fling conference will be held on campus on April 10^th.  We would really like to encourage you to attend, and there is no registration fee for NCECBVI parents.  The keynote speaker will be Kevin O’Connor.  He is a parent of a 19 year old son who is visually impaired.  Kevin is the author of 5 books, past president of NAPVI, and teaches at Chicago’s Loyola University and Columbia College.  Please see the enclosed information or call us if you have questions.

·  The Grandparents and Extended Family Member Workshop will be held on April 12^th at ESU 3 in Omaha.  This workshop is designed for grandparents, aunts, uncles and other extended family members of people with disabilities.  For more information, contact Patty Husebo at ESU 3 at (402) 597-4936.

 

Safe Travels and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

 

Job Training. . .                                           Mrs. Graves and Mrs. Tharp

 

The Monday/Tuesday class has been busy collecting donations around town for our Relay for Life raffle. It is important for the students to become involved in community service activities, and it gives the students a chance to work on their communication skills. They have also started their career research project. The students have completed the “Your Ideal Job Worksheet” that asked a variety of questions to help them realize the type of work in which they may be interested. The next step is to do some research on their chosen career and eventually interview someone already in their field of choice. This is a great project that will help the students decide whether the job they have chosen is one that they want to pursue, or whether to look into other career areas.

The Wednesday/Thursday class has been busy working off-campus at IGA and Pamida. Some of the students love their jobs; others are finding that they want to try something new. This is absolutely fine! We would rather have the students discover that they do not care for a job after truly trying it for a while. It is better to know now than when they are looking for an actual paying job. Some students will continue on their present jobs, others will go through the process again and apply for another job. Either way, it is a great learning experience!

Administrator’s Corner. . .

                                                                              Sally Giittinger

NCECBVI

FEBRUARY, 2008