Sometimes as humans, we forget about the importance of being inclusive to those individuals who are physically challenged.  Often, students who are visually impaired miss out on opportunities to learn concepts incidentally as they may or may not be able to observe and effectively interreact with their world.  To shorten this gap, it is important to expose those youth to meaningful experiences and interactions that they can touch, hear, smell, and see (if they have some any vision).  

It has been a great honor to be part of Breckinridge Franklin Elementary schools’ Vision Camp for the past 2 summers. This camp is made for children and teens that are vision-impaired or fully blind. The teachers try to bring in new fun experiences for them, this camp is all about trying new things and being yourself.  During this 4 week’s program 8-10 kids participated in 4-H Programs such as Science Engineering and Technology, with the use of Ozo Bots, Learned Kentucky state history and played the dulcimer (state instrument), participated in a community service project, made dog treats for the local dog shelter, and increased their culinary skills by making homemade watermelon salsa.  

All of these programs are hands-on programming, utilizing the 4-H Motto “Learn by Doing.”  This exploration and interaction have helped students make sense of what they are feeling.  They’ve been able to connect and relate activities with previous experiences.  Aside from making connections, participants gained an understanding of new concepts, increased their communication skills and it motivated several to explore their environment more.  These kids are truly great role models, and they are 100% unstoppable! This has brought so much joy, so thankful to be part of it! We are looking forward to working with this group next summer.