You are viewing this document in text format. If you would like to adjust the margins or font to make it more legible or easier to print, we recommend that you save the document to your hard-drive. To save the document, choose "File," "Save As...," then select a directory on your computer. THE LANTERN FALL 2005 ON THE COVER: In this issue - Reaching Public School Students Perkins Strategic Plan 2005-2010 Transforming Lives Around the World How to Help COVER PHOTO: Perkins summer school included field trips to the New England Aquarium. MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT Welcome to the 2005-2006 school year at Perkins School for the Blind. So much is happening here on campus, around New England and in the 55 developing countries where we provide services. In so many ways and for so many people from babies to students to elders, all we see is possibility. The fall 2005 issue of The Lantern highlights some of the work in our campus classrooms, in public schools and in our international programs. I am especially pleased to announce an important new initiative, Perkins Educational Partnerships, which will allow us to reach so many more New England children and their families. This is an exciting time at Perkins. We launched a planning process involving all facets of the Perkins family to develop the Perkins Strategic Plan 2005-2010, Seeing Possibilities. In the next five years, Perkins will be building on our strengths and expanding in important areas. We are thrilled to share an introduction to the plan in this issue of The Lantern. I would like to thank all members of the Perkins family for their dedication, work and support. Staff, volunteers, donors, alumni and family help Perkins continue to be a world leader making a difference to over 60,000 children and adults here and around the world. In particular, it is important to thank our staff. Perkins School for the Blind could not be a top-rate organization without world-class staff. Thank you again to everyone who is making a difference and helping possibilities become realities. Sincerely, Steven M. Rothstein, President Perkins School for the Blind INSIDE COVER CAPTION: Please join us as we look ahead in Perkins 2005-2010 Strategic Plan. THE LANTERN FALL 2005 Volume LXXV, Number 1 CONTENTS Reaching Public School Students Transforming Lives Around the World Preparing for the Future Today Perkins Strategic Plan 2005-2010 Graduation Reflections at Perkins How to Help REACHING PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS - OUTREACH SUMMER PROGRAMS Today about 90% of students with visual impairments attend public schools. There are numerous benefits to inclusion, but many of these students lack an important aspect of school - access to peers who are dealing with similar issues. Perkins Outreach Summer Programs helps kids connect. Students from elementary schools through high schools come together at Perkins for friendship. They share experiences, learn new skills and develop strategies for greater success at school. Some Perkins students join the activities, learning from their public school peers and offering advice from their own experience. Students come from all six New England states and beyond to these residential programs. In summer of 2005, Perkins offered four programs: two for elementary school students and two for teenagers, "Dealing with the Present While Preparing for the Future," and "A Sampling of the World of Work." Perkins is grateful to The Boston Foundation and individual donors who enabled us to accept the largest number of students ever. For children from the first to sixth grades, all activities, from horseback riding to cooking, reinforced skills that are so important to children with visual impairments - how to walk around safely, to use money independently and to continue developing the fine motor skills essential for braille reading. Most importantly, the week long overnight sessions allowed kids to learn that they are not alone. They can help one another and will be able to reach their dreams. Adolescence isn't easy for anyone, but teenagers who are visually impaired often have more to cope with. Being one of the few blind students in a school can be isolating. The three-week program, "Dealing with the Present While Preparing for the Future," helped students improve self-esteem though understanding personal strengths as well as limitations. The program addressed problem-solving skills, money management, grooming, organizational skills, social skills and peer relationships. Students shared their career plans and even helped one another navigate the grocery store. It wasn't all work. Windsurfing, exploring Boston and making new friends gave teenagers the camaraderie and good times that facilitate learning. In the adult population, 70% of people who are blind are unemployed or under-employed, so unfortunately it is not surprising to learn that teenagers with visual impairment often have fewer opportunities for summer employment. Perkins is working to change these trends. The summer 2005 program, "A Sampling of the World of Work," placed high school students in jobs in the Boston area. They worked four days a week, with every Friday reserved for seminars and job site tours. Students worked in offices, a day care center, retail, food service and production. Seminars addressed resumes, interviewing skills and the difference between socializing at work and with friends. Students lived in a supervised apartment and were responsible for their own meals, shopping, laundry and housekeeping. The program was intense, and the achievement great. With the support of programs like these, students from around New England can take dramatic steps toward a future where people who are blind and people who are sighted have equal chances for employment and independence. At Perkins all we see is possibility. PHOTO CAPTION: New friends made the experience of a hayride even better. PHOTO CAPTION: Teacher's Aide was an exciting summer job for high school students. PHOTO CAPTION: Shopping is an essential life skill. PHOTO CAPTION: For someone with visual impairment, learning to navigate the Laundromat can be an important step toward independence. PHOTO CAPTION: Perkins summer program for public school students was about skill building. ARTICLE FEATURE: Chantel Cuddemi (shown in photo at computer wearing a headset) attends her local public school where a teacher from Perkins Educational Partnerships also works with her. Due to limited opportunities for employment in her hometown and the need to practice independent living skills, she attended the summer "World of Work" program. A Job Coach worked side by side with her the first week, and an Orientation & Mobility Instructor helped her learn to get around her work environment. Using a speech program on her computer and a braille note-taking machine, she was responsible for placing phone calls to update the database and distribute public information. Striving to balance work and home life independently was a challenge that she proudly met! PERKINS HELPING PUBLIC SCHOOLS Perkins Educational Partnerships - For every student Perkins serves here on campus, we are helping several children who are blind or deafblind in other locations - babies in their homes and children in public schools. We also consult with schools and programs to improve educational services. Perkins Educational Partnerships Program is a new initiative that brings all of our outreach to public schools together. Today, an expanded team of educators works throughout New England, teaching greater numbers of mainstreamed students in their classrooms, consulting with families, and helping school systems develop or assess their services for children who are blind or deafblind. Now more than ever, Perkins is felt in classrooms throughout New England. Training Today's Anne Sullivans - Perkins is the teacher of teachers. We are the largest trainer of professionals working with students who are blind or deafblind in New England, where the ratio of students to specially trained teachers is 26 to 1. The national recommendation is 8 to 1. Perkins Training Center is committed to closing this gap. Last year, over 2,000 professionals attended training, a 155% increase. 17 trainings were on the Perkins campus and 26 were led throughout New England. Teachers are honing their skills today at Perkins just as Anne Sullivan did before she worked with Helen Keller. The legacy continues, and the impact on New England is huge. TRANSFORMING LIVES AROUND THE WORLD The international work of the Hilton/Perkins Program transforms societies. In developing countries where resources are scarce, special education is often not a top priority, and within special education children who are deafblind have often been considered unable to learn. In too many parts of the world deafblind children and their families have been left behind. The Hilton/Perkins Program has been making a difference for over 16 years, developing programs destined to be self-sustaining and training personnel to direct their own programs. Our staff trains local professionals and helps existing schools expand their work with blind children to include children who are deafblind. We work with parents to form groups that advocate for children. We educate and empower people to develop the services they need and to educate others in their country. Right now the Hilton/Perkins Program provides support in 55 developing countries. We are particularly pleased to have begun working with professionals and projects in three additional countries, Armenia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, where schools for the blind are now reaching out to deafblind and blind students with multiple disabilities. This is only a beginning. Many areas of Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East are still without services. As a world leader in the education of people who are blind or deafblind, there is still much for Perkins to do. REACHING OUT TO ARMENIA One school for the blind serves all of Armenia and there have been few, if any, services in the country for children who are deafblind or blind with additional disabilities. With the help of the Cambridge, Massachusetts/Yerevan, Armenia Sister City Program, we have begun providing Braillers and materials to the Yerevan School for the Blind and are helping them develop classrooms to include blind children with additional disabilities. We are also working with the Gyumri Children's Home orphanage to introduce a kindergarten and with the Ministry of Education to develop vision screening. A reception for the Massachusetts Armenian community in early October introduced these programs and their on-going needs. As Helen Keller said, "Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much." WELCOME EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM CLASS OF 2005-2006 In the last 80 years, Perkins has trained over 500 international teachers and other special educators in the fields of blindness and deafblindness. After a year of intensive training at Perkins, participants return to their countries to develop new programs and reach more people. This year we are pleased to welcome a dynamic class of 10 people who will be making a difference in Argentina, Brazil, China, Estonia, Ghana, Greece, India, Mexico, Philippines and Vietnam. PHOTO CAPTION: This year's Educational Leadership Program class. PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE TODAY Shakespeare is alive and well at Perkins. So is Homer's Odyssey and Richard Wright's Black Boy. These and many other classical works are highlighted in a restructured high school English Language Arts Curriculum. During the past year, Perkins Secondary Program staff and administrators worked with an English curriculum specialist and evaluated the best schools. The challenging new curriculum focuses on the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, which is the basis for the MCAS test and involves all language areas - fiction, essay, poetry, drama, grammar, public speaking and debate. Classes use the wide range of media, from braille to the spoken word, that makes information accessible to students with visual impairments. In order to compete today, adults must be literate and must be critical thinkers. Perkins students, now more than ever, will be standing shoulder to shoulder with their sighted peers. PERKINS STRATEGIC PLAN 2005-2010 "For over 175 years, Perkins has been a world leader in education for people who are blind or deafblind. Our vision is to continue to impart hope and foster independence."- Janet B. James, Chair, Perkins Board of Trustees Perkins helps over 60,000 people in the United States and in 55 developing countries reach for their greatest independence. Yet today many babies and public school students do not receive the services they need. 70% of U.S. citizens who are blind are unemployed or under-employed. 85% of children with disabilities in developing countries do not have access to education. In 25 years, the number of people who are blind in the U.S. is predicted to double, largely because our population is aging. Perkins launched a strategic planning process that involves all facets of the Perkins family - students, alumni, parents, staff, trustees, colleagues, volunteers, donors and community leaders. We are developing a plan of action. In the next five years, Perkins will: - Prepare our students to have the skills for a changing and competitive environment. - Reach babies, students, and elders who are not receiving adequate services. - Expand internationally. - Build partnerships with advocates, donors and volunteers. Perkins 2005-2010 Strategic Plan, Seeing Possibilities, is built on our strengths and past successes. It looks to the future and seeks to address the issues critical for people who are blind or deafblind, with or without additional disabilities, in order to lead productive, meaningful lives. We invite you to join Perkins as we plan for the future. Please contact Steven.Rothstein2010@Perkins.org or Jan.Spitz2010@Perkins.org to share your own vision for Perkins next five years. 2005 GRADUATES Perkins graduation is a highlight of the year. Students dressed in blue caps and gowns use canes, wheelchairs or the arms of classmates to parade through a cheering auditorium of families, teachers and friends. They climb the stage or wheel themselves into a portable elevator and become a stretch of stunning royal blue before a crowd of people who have been rooting for them all along. The support of family, teachers and friends is crucial. But the 2005 graduates on stage were the ones who made it happen for themselves, who kept trying where others might have let discouragement get in the way. Perkins 2005 graduates persevered. No matter what journey they choose after graduation, every Perkins graduate should know that he or she is a success. South African Justice Zak Yacoob gave the 2005 Commencement address. He is a sitting judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa (the nation's Supreme Court), blind and of Indian origin. He fought apartheid and helped draft South Africa's first democratic Constitution. "You have shown tenacity, courage and considerable strength," Justice Yacoob said to the graduating class. "The world needs you and your input." PHOTO CAPTION: "Life is waiting for you out there. If you sit by and wait for things to happen, you will do nothing in life... You will help yourselves in the process of helping others. You find that as you give, you also gain." - South African Justice Zak Yacoob GRADUATES 2005: Lija Kristine Basile - Needham, MA Jakob R. Burton-Sundman - Vineyard Haven, MA Ryan Conroy - Hamden, CT Monica Cortez Garcia - Cambridge, MA Raymond Gay - Pelham, MA David Aaron Green - Durham, CT Isaac Hawke III - Boston, MA Sarah Elizabeth Jasmin - Canton, MA Rachel Marie Kobierecki - Medway, MA Jason E. Kuzmeskus - Erving, MA Janice Lee - Newton, MA Derrick Lewis - New York, NY Katherine Blair Lewis - Springfield, MO Neia Anjuli McGinn - Marlborough, MA Amanda Elizabeth Poole - Salem, MA Deborah Steen - Wilmington, MA Mary Anne Steen - Wilmington, MA Kate Truslow Warner - Keene, NH REFLECTIONS - Perkins people and happenings on and off campus RED SOX TROPHY Sports fans at Perkins had a banner year. It wasn't just all the fun that Perkins students had wrestling, swimming, playing goal ball and competing on the track. It wasn't just that the Red Sox broke the curse of the Bambino and won the World Series. The sporting highlight at Perkins was the day that the World Series Trophy arrived on campus for photos with students and staff. Thank you to the Red Sox for breaking the curse and sharing the trophy. We repay the favor with moral support and loud cheering. www.perkins.org E-COMMERCE ANNOUNCEMENT You can now buy Perkins Publications, the Perkins Panda, Howe Press products and talking book accessories online. Visit www.perkinsstore.org. Keep coming back - we add new products regularly. This fall will bring new publications and many ways to be involved with Perkins School for the Blind. PERKINS HOLIDAY CARDS Holiday cards made by a 13-year-old student in Perkins Lower School are for sale at www.perkinsstore.org or 617-972-7469. Inside contains a message from the artist: "The North Pole is open 24 hours a day, 364 days a year." The cards proclaim "Seasons Greetings" in both print and braille. Place your order now to include Perkins in your holiday joy. SPEAKING VOLUMES The work of photographer Robert Amory focuses on "the human condition and the distilled silence of [one's] interior presence." His work is in the collections of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University and the Boston Public Library. Mr. Amory sought out Jaimi Lard, Perkins alumna and Spokesperson who is deafblind, and interpreter Pam Ryan to be subjects of his larger than life-size photography. As Perkins Spokesperson, Jaimi shares her experience as a person who is deafblind with schools, Lions Clubs, churches and other groups. Just as Robert Amory's photographs speak volumes, so does Jaimi to all those lucky enough to meet her. If you would like Jaimi to speak at your organization please contact 617-972-7335 or publicrelations@perkins.org. EQUAL RIGHTS FOR HARRY POTTER READERS Last summer as kids (and adults) were clamoring for the arrival of the new Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Perkins students were not left behind. Braille and print versions of the popular book were released nearly simultaneously, a huge departure from the norm. Books in braille usually come out months, if not a year or two, after the print version. In fact, most books are never translated into braille at all. The 500 to 600 new braille books every year account for a mere 1% of all books published. Perkins students were thrilled that this time they were not told to wait. Because of a partnership between the National Braille Press and Scholastic, they could read the new Harry Potter book at the same time that their sighted friends could. Jason Carroll from CNN interviewed Perkins students about Harry Potter in braille, an additional thrill to students that they could share their story around the world. PHOTO CAPTION: When I read, my imagination goes wild because I imagine myself being almost pulled into what I'm reading, and I can really imagine what's going on." - Perkins student Katherine Moss, 16 FREE BOOKS Perkins Braille & Talking Book Library loans free books and tapes to people unable to read traditional print. Children and working adults access the library, but the majority of our patrons are elders with late-in-life vision loss. In 2005, contributions from donors, a budget increase from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the work of volunteers enabled 2,400 more patrons, especially elders, to get the newspapers, magazines and books in formats they can read. If you or anyone you know might benefit from free books and tapes from Perkins Braille & Talking Book Library, contact: 1-800-852-3133. CHAMPION VOLUNTEER During a Red Sox post-game program on UPN38 in August, Perkins Braille & Talking Book Library volunteer George Potter was featured as a "Champion Volunteer." The television station and Champion Mortgage teamed up to recognize the donations of volunteers with a one-minute TV spot and a contribution to the volunteer's non-profit. In 15 years 87-year-old George has recorded and monitored about 70 books, an incredible service to the 19,000 Massachusetts and Rhode Island residents who cannot read standard print and use free talking books from Perkins Braille & Talking Book Library. Thank you, George, and all of our library volunteers, for your dedication! ANSWERING THE CALL Perkins answered the call to help our friends devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Students and staff held raffles, booksales, and other activities to raise over $5,000 to send to children who are blind in Louisiana. In addition, Perkins donated Perkins Braillers. Together, the Perkins community made a difference. HOW TO HELP There are many ways to make a difference at Perkins. Join others who are helping children and adults who are blind, deafblind or have multiple disabilities reach their greatest possible independence. Here are some ideas: ¥ Make a gift of cash, stock, or personal property. ¥ Make a gift online at www.perkins.org/donate ¥ Leave a legacy by remembering Perkins School for the Blind in your will. ¥ Provide you or your loved ones with income for life by establishing a Charitable Gift Annuity. ¥ Create an endowed fund supporting a special program. ¥ Donate through your employer's matching gift program or payroll deduction program. You might double or triple your contribution to Perkins! ¥ Honor a loved one with a memorial or tribute gift for birthdays, weddings, graduations and other important events. ¥ Volunteer by giving a few hours a month - or more - and find out how much of a difference you can make in the life of another. For more information on any of these opportunities, please call Kathleen Brittan at 617-972-7284 or visit www.perkins.org. Photo credits: Robert Amory,15 (top); David Gordon, 16 (bottom); John Kennard, 2, 3 (2nd from top, bottom), 10-13, 14 (bottom), 19; Perkins Archives, cover, 3 (top), 4-9, 14 (top), 17. BACK COVER Perkins School for the Blind Perkins School for the Blind was incorporated March 2, 1829. The school is an accredited member of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and the National Association of Independent Schools. It is licensed by the Massachusetts Departments of Education and Mental Retardation and by the Commonwealth's Department of Early Education and Care. Perkins School for the Blind admits students of any race, gender, color, creed, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, color, creed, national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, scholarship, athletic and other school-administered programs. THE LANTERN Perkins School for the Blind 175 North Beacon Street Watertown, MA 02472 www.perkins.org Tel: 617.924.3434 Fax: 617.972.7334 All we see is possibility. Editor: Robert Guthrie