Student Division of the NFB

Mentoring, to me, is an incredibly vital part of a student’s life. In my humble opinion, it needs to be employed in our education system far more often than it is today. There’s so much knowledge that you can’t learn from a book, from the ins and outs of college admissions to discerning which university has the best program featuring your major. And for blind individuals, the small things that you can’t learn from a book double and triple, and become even more important.  

There are a number of mentoring programs sponsored by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), from programs like Youth Slam, a camp introducing blind students to careers in math and science, where their counselors were other blind adults, to the NFB training centers, who staff mostly blind instructors. Then there are the mentoring programs represented by the state and national student divisions.  These divisions give students a forum where they can give and receive advice about the problems that affect them in their daily lives. These can range from how to put on makeup to how to get accessible materials for college to how to ensure that you get the full range of services from state centers.

Although the National Division is vitally important, it often doesn’t focus on issues close to home. Often you have to sort through the material, since there is information provided for a number of states. Therefore, a law/provision that is applicable in one state may not be applicable in another.  Because this is so often the case, while National is a wonderful place to meet and interact while discussing broad issues that affect all students as a whole, it is the local divisions students rely on for the ground work.

For a number of reasons, there has not been an active student division in my area for some time. Slowly but surely however, we are rebuilding one. Currently we have a wonderful President as well as Vice President, and will soon be selecting board members. I have been asked if I would be interested in the secretary position, but I haven’t decided yet. It is a very time consuming task and I’m not sure I’m ready to commit.

I’m so looking forward to the division getting on its feet, not only so that I may be mentored too, but also so I can be a mentor.  If I didn’t have a passionate desire to have an impact on the legal landscape of civil rights, I would probably become a teacher. I love the exhilarating feeling when you realize that someone you are helping has finally grasped a concept, or helping someone reach a goal with the knowledge you provided. So, while I pursue credentials for a civil rights career, I can indulge my second passion and mentor.