News

NDVS/SB Region 3 Outreach Coordinator

The month of August often brings big changes – cooler weather, new school year, and new beginnings. Our newest employee, Breanne Welk, began her new position at NDVS/SB this past August and is looking forward to all the things a new job brings. Here, Breanne shares her goals and a bit about herself!

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by Ken Dockter
NDVS/SB Adult Program Coordinator

Adult Weeks will take place the following dates during the 2024-2025 school year: 

• September 15 - 20, 2024
• December 8 - 13, 2024
• March 23 - 28, 2025
• May 11 - 16, 2025
• June 1 - 6, 2025

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by Amy Osvold
NDVS/SB Vision Rehabilitation Specialist

Amy wrote the following reflection for the North Dakota Association of the Blind's newsletter, the Promoter. In order for more people to hear her important message, she is also sharing it with the NDVS/SB community. 

My vision loss journey began when I was 4½ years old. I had been sick with what my mom thought was the flu. I stayed home in the morning with my grandmother while my mother worked. That afternoon she picked me up to go to the doctor but when she asked me to put on my shoes, I could not find them. I could not see them. She rushed me to a family friend who was an optometrist in Minot who then sent me to the ER. And thus began my journey.

Over the next 42 years, I began a quest to try and figure out what was causing my vision loss before I lost the rest of my sight or the mystery disease expanded its grasp to other areas of my body. As a child, I had a total of six attacks. After the fourth, I was put on an immune suppressant called Imuran as a kind of a shot-in-the-dark. It did not stop the attacks, but it did slow them down and kept the losses from being so extensive. 

As an adult, I have seen countless neurologists, ophthalmologists, neur-ophthalmologists, rheumatologists, immunologists, and general practitioners in an attempt to find an answer before the clock ran out. Every time I had an attack, I lost more vision. I would take massive amounts of steroids but never regained what I lost. In 2000, I started having numbness and weakness on my right side, as well as dizziness, headaches, and nausea. The doctors just told me they could not find anything wrong other than the Optic Neuritis which had progressed to Optic Atrophy. By the late 2000s, pain became a constant companion. Every time I saw a new doctor and they ran the usual gauntlet of tests, I prayed this would be the time science had caught up to my disease, the time I finally had a name for the pain.

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by Paul Olson
NDVS/SB Superintendent

This summer, several NDVS/SB staff had the opportunity to attend a presentation in West Fargo by Jason Romero. Jason was on a multi-state tour speaking about his life and most importantly, overcoming adversity. Jason is a middle-aged guy who is blind because of a hereditary condition called retinitis pigmentosa. 

In our business we meet lots of people who are blind and literally everyone has daily practice overcoming adversity. So, what makes Jason’s story such a big deal? Well, he did happen to run across America covering 3,063 miles in a mere 59 days. 

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by Cindy Williams
NDVS/SB Coordinator of Student Programs

Welcome back to the 2024-2025 school year and welcome to Student Short-Term Programs at NDVS/SB! I hope you are all adjusting well to your new school routine or soon will be! I am honored to be the Coordinator of Student Programs and am looking forward to this school year and working with you and your child/student. Our Short-Term Programs (STP) are designed to offer individual and small class instruction through collaboration with families and local schools. While attending our STPs, students share similar experiences unique to the world of visual impairment and take away self-awareness and confidence through this shared experience. 

Before I discuss our upcoming school year programs, I want to share with you some information about our summer programs. NDVS/SB offers students in North Dakota with visual impairments opportunities to come together in the summer to interact socially, learn new skills, experience lessons in the Expanded Core Curriculum, and have fun. We were all so excited to partake in new adventures this summer through the following programs.

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NDVS/SB Maintenance Worker

For BreAnna Wicken, working at NDVS/SB is a family affair. Her mother-in-law, Tracy Wicken, is the Assistive Technology Specialist, and the person who encouraged BreAnna to apply when the position opened up earlier this year. BreAnna’s amazing work ethic was apparent from the start, and she didn’t let her baby bump slow her down. Shortly after starting her job, BreAnna gave birth to a daughter, Rachel, and since returning from maternity leave, BreAnna has jumped right back into work, organizing and cleaning nooks and crannies and making herself essential to NDVS/SB. She has also been able to bring Rachel to work some days. Rachel stays snuggly and safe wrapped up in a sling, which allows BreAnna to do her job and keep her baby close by. Staff have enjoyed having a baby in the building and watching her grow. BreAnna has also grown into the job and loves working at NDVS/SB. “Everyone who works here is very nice,” she says. Read on to learn more about BreAnna.

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Attending summer camp is a tradition for many teens, and these days, there seems to be a camp for every interest and hobby. But how about a camp where attendees get to practice and learn new mobility skills, including spending a day traveling with a dog guide? This summer, two students who receive services from NDVS/SB attended the Teen Summer Camp at Leader Dogs for the Blind, which is based in Rochester Hills, Michigan. The last week in June, Edward Freer, 18, and Ethan Thiseth, 17, flew by themselves to Michigan for a week of learning new skills, meeting new friends, and pushing themselves to new limits. These two young men have spent many weeks in Grand Forks attending short-term programs at NDVS/SB, but their experience at Leader Dogs was unlike anything they’d done before. 

Kristi Thiseth, Ethan’s mom, was very excited for Ethan to attend camp in Michigan. “A few years ago, he wouldn’t spend the night at NDVS/SB, and now he is flying states away to attend camp,” Kristi said. “I think the most valuable part of camp was him learning to be more independent.” Ethan’s independence grew not just during the week at camp itself but before and after camp as well. When the Thiseth family was in the airport for a family trip a few weeks before Ethan was scheduled to fly out for camp, he asked his parents to help him explore the airport and download the airport app on his phone so he would be prepared for his own adventure later. That type of real-life experience is invaluable and can’t be replicated. And that’s why students are encouraged to attend camps like these, that are designed for teens who are blind or have low vision. “Every experience we have helps us decide what we want in our lives,” said Paul Olson, Superintendent of NDVS/SB.

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Vision Resource Center Specialist

Michele Willman only started working in the Vision Resource Center at NDVS/SB in mid-May, but when you meet her, you may think she’s been a librarian her entire life. Since she’s started, she’s made many improvements to the library, from setting up attractive new displays to cleaning up online library records that will make her colleagues’ and patrons’ lives easier. Michele, who had spent most of her career working in higher ed, is a natural fit in this position. “I had been interested in shifting from teaching to library for awhile and had been browsing job boards looking for library positions that I was qualified for,” she said. “I happened across the job ad for the VRC Specialist and I’m so glad the stars aligned like they did.” Her colleagues at NDVS/SB are glad too! Read on to learn more about Michele.

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Recently, Alfred Eggermont from Binford, ND, fulfilled a lifelong dream: he starred in a cooking competition show. Alfred has had this dream since he was just a little boy. He started helping his mom cook at only 3 years old. At 5, he began watching cooking shows, and at 6, he was cooking full meals for his family. This past spring, at the ripe old age of 12, he starred on MasterChef Junior, a cooking competition show hosted by British chef and restauranter Gordon Ramsay, that airs on FOX. Twelve young chefs began the competition, and Alfred made into the top six before being eliminated. People all over the country fell in love with Alfred and his fellow competitors. But what the audience didn’t know is that Alfred has a visual impairment and receives services from North Dakota Vision Services/School for the Blind (NDVS/SB). 

by Cindy Williams
NDVS/SB Coordinator of Student Programs

Summer is right around the corner and the nice weather teases us with excitement for the long, hot summer days enjoying the sunshine. Before we get too excited about the summer fun to come, I want to share some of the wonderful experiences our students have had during our short-term programs occurring on and off-site. These programs have brought growth and educational experiences incorporating the Expanded Core Curriculum. Our students have connected with others living with vision loss, have grown personally, learned skills along the way, gone out of their comfort zone and have had some fun!

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