INDIANA SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND

2011-08-22T20:58:00.001-04:00

ROAD TRIP!!

2008-07-23T11:10:00.006-04:00

When I was in the fourth grade in 1990, my class went to Washington DC. The class placed recycling bins all over the school, to collect aluminum cans and plastic bottles to raise money for the trip. The class emptied the bins once a week, the janitors let us keep the cans in the Wilson 5 storage room. Once a month, our teacher Mrs... Hughes, would take the cans to the recycling place, to be recycled, the class helped to load them in her car. The class collected cans all year, by April in early spring time we had raised enough money to fly on American airlines to Washington DC for two days and two nights. There were eleven students and four adults on the trip to Washington DC. The students were: Jessica, Chastity, Elizabeth, Heidi, David, Ryan, Adam, and I. The adults were: Mrs.. Hughes, our teacher, Mr... Nail, an administrator, Mr.. and Mrs.. Kohut, Adams parents. Adams parents were coming as extra chaperones on on the trip. On the day that my class left for Washington DC, we attended classes like normal, the class was not leaving until after school. At lunch, I hardly had a chance to eat my food, the girls in my grade who were not going on the trip, kept stopping by my lunch table to say, how lucky we were and they wished there class would take a trip to Washington DC. The last bell of the day rang at 3:15 p.m., I rushed back to the dorm to finish packing my bag for the trip. I checked in with the dorm parent, put away my school books, said good bye to the girls who were not going on the trip, as they went off to recreation time. Mr.. and Mrs.. Kohut had purchased everyone, identical looking blue bags. To keep from getting the bags mixed up, everyone had there names taped to the handle of there bag. After all the other girls had left, I packed two changes of clothes and toiletries in my bag. I carried my bag to the living room, put my bag by the patio door, sat down to watch television until Mrs. Hughes came to take us to the gym. When Mrs. Hughes came to get us, we picked up our bags, said good bye to our dorm parent, went down the hall to the boys dorm, the girls waited out in the hall, Mrs.. Hughes went into the boys dorm to get the boys. Mrs.. Hughes said that we had to go wait in the gym, for a member of the recreation staff to get a van to take us to the airport. When the van arrived, to take us to the airport, the adults helped us throw our bags in the back of the van. The school van was large enough for all fourteen of us to sit comfortably. As the van goes to the airport, I stare out the window, watching the city change from grassy lawns to sky scrapers. As we approach the airport, you can see planes taking off and landing.

When the van arrives at the airport, we are let out at the front door, the adults help us get our bags from the back of the van. Mr.. Kohute tells us to pair up and hold hands, like little children. We walk into the terminal, cross a large open space to some chairs. Mrs.. Hughes tells us that we will eat our dinner now, the adults hand each of us a sack lunch. The sack lunches contained: a bologna sandwich, a bag of chips, carrots and a cookie for dessert. When everyone was done eating, we threw our trash in nearby trash cans. We pair up again to walk to the metal detectors. A security guard tells us to take off any jewelry or watches we are wearing and to empty our pockets. All of this is put in a silver tray next to the conveyor belt. We place our bags one at a time on the conveyor belt to be scanned. As the bags are being scanned we walk individually through the metal detector. We pick up our bags, watches and jewelry on the other side of the conveyor belt. We pair up again to walk to the baggage check in area, where we hand our bags over to the attendant, who will put the bags on the plane. We pair up again to walk through the airport to our departure gate. The airport is very large, it feels like we walk forever before we reach our gate. It is exciting walking through the airport, I see people riding on scooters, others pushing luggage on wheels and a man pushing a huge tower of luggage. I see people from all over the world and hear them speak in foreign languages. When we arrive at our gate, we were seated by the window to watch and listen to the planes take off from the airport. The planes are very large up close. I watched as each plane pulled to a stop, you could hear the powerful engines turn off. A long arm would attach itself to the plane, you could hear the suction noise as the air was removed from the arm. This seemed to take a very long time. When this was done I watched a flight attendant at the counter next to me open the door leading to the long arm. Mr. Nail told us to quiet down and get ready to board the airplane. I watched a baggage cart drive near the plane, there were ten carts all hooked together in a row. I am unsure how they got the baggage on the plane.
A little while later the baggage cart drove away. A flight attendant comes on the intercom to say that people who need assistance boarding should board now. Mrs.. Hughes tells us to pair up and hold hands, as we walk to the doors behind the flight attendant, Mr. Nail shows the flight attendant our boarding passes, then we walk thru the departure doors to start the long walk down the arm to the air plane, the long arm echoes when I talk to my friend Jessica. When we board the plane I see a large cabin with several rows of seats on both sides of a long aisle, three on one side and two on the other. A flight attendant directs us to our section of seats, it seems like it takes us forever to walk down the aisle to our seats. I am told to sit in a three person seat with Heidi, Mr.. Nail and myself, Heidi gets the window seat, Adam, David and Ryan are sitting in front of us. Mr.. Nail helps us to fasten our seat belts and pull them tight. A flight attendant comes along and asks Mrs.. Hughes if she should give us any special instructions, she says no thank you and the flight attendant walks off down the aisle. The seats recline. The seat in front of me has a little turn down table that you can use for either work or to eat your in flight meals and a footrest. I have always heard that air plane food is terrible. We are traveling to late to get an in flight meal. The plane is starting to get crowded, more and more people are starting to board, the flight attendants are directing them to there seats, the aisles are crowded with people placing there bags in the overhead bends and settling in to there seats. The plane is very noisy with people talking and moving around. A little while later the flight attendant comes on the loudspeakers to ask everyone to buckle there seat belts, place there seats and tray tables in the upright position to prepare for take off. The captain comes on to welcome us aboard the plane, he says our flight will be approximately two hours to Washington DC and to have a pleasant flight. When the plane starts to taxi down the runway, I am thrown back in my seat by the power of the engines, I wonder if this is how astronauts feel when they blast off for outer space, there is a huge rush of adrenaline, the engines are so loud you can not even talk to your friends. It seems like I am stuck forever with my back pressed to the back of the chair by the planes sheer velocity, finally the plane levels off and I am able to look around at all of my friends. Mr.. Nail tells us we can take off our seat belts and stretch for a while. I leave my seat belt fastened and turn the knob to release my turn down table. I reach in my backpack to pull out the book my aunt bought me for the flight, "A KIDS GUIDE TO WASHINGTON DC", it is full of fun and interesting facts about our nations capital, I read it for a very long time. Mr.. Nail tells Heidi and I to switch seats, I unbuckle and move to the window seat for a look outside, all is dark. I refasten my seat belt without help this time then go back to reading my book. Did you know that the White House was set on fire in 1814 by British soldiers. The flight attendant comes along offering us little bags of peanuts and cups of orange juice, the peanuts are good but the orange juice is sour tasting. I go back to doing the mazes, word finds and coloring in my book. I look out the window but all I see is darkness. A little while later the flight attendant comes on the loudspeakers to ask everyone to buckle there seat belts, place there seats and tray tables in the upright position to prepare for landing in Washington DC. Mr.. Nail gives Heidi and I a piece of gum to keep our ears from popping while we are landing. I start to feel butterflies in my stomachs as we descend towards the ground. Mr.. Nail tells me to look out my window, to see all of the lights of Washington DC come in to view as the plane descends towards the ground. The lights look like little pin pricks of light in the night sky, everything else is dark. A little while later I look out the window and can see the lights of the airport. I start to get very excited, we are in Washington DC. When the plane touches down there is a bump as the wheels hit the runway. The plane has to taxi to our arrival gate, this airport is very large, there are other planes all over the place. There is an Erie quiet for a second when our plane shuts down the engines at our arrival gate, then the captain comes on the loudspeaker to thank us for flying with him, he hopes we had a pleasant flight and to welcome us to Washington DC. Mr. Nail tells us to stay seated while the rest of our section clears out. I unbuckle my seat belt to stretch, watch other passengers get there bags from the overhead bends. And start to exit the airplane. Mrs.. Hughes says we can stand up to walk down the aisle and exit the airplane. It feels good to be standing and walking after two hours of sitting on an airplane. When we reach the doors to the airplane Mrs.. Hughes thanks the flight attendants for wonderful service on the airplane, then we pair up again to start the long walk thru the arm towards the arrivals door. A flight attendant welcomes us to Washington Dc when we walk thru the arrivals door. This airport is an exact replica of the one in Indianapolis only much larger. The airport is very crowded with people, it feels like we walk forever before we reach the baggage claim area, all of the luggage from the planes is on a large conveyor belt, you walk up to the conveyor belt to wait for your luggage to appear on the carousel, then you reach down to grab your bags off the belt. It is exciting walking through the airport, I see people riding on scooters, others pushing luggage on wheels and a man pushing a huge tower of luggage. I see people from all over the world and hear them speak in foreign languages. We all walk in a group with our blue bags thru the terminal towards the front of the airport. Before you may leave the terminal your bags must be scanned one last time. A security guard tells us to take off any jewelry or watches we are wearing and to empty our pockets. All of this is put in a silver tray next to the security X-ray machine. We place our bags one at a time on the machine to be scanned. The scanner takes a picture of the contents of our bags and beeps if there is anything metal in the bag. As the bags are being scanned we walk individually through the metal detector. We pick up our bags, watches and jewelry on the other side of the X-ray machine.
We are finally allowed to leave the terminal with our luggage. When we step outside it is a crisp cool night, I zip up my jacket to stay warm, we walk half a block down the street to a bus stop area, a bus comes along and we all get aboard. Mrs.. Hughes gives the driver the money for our bus fare, we all find seats, hold our bags in our laps, it is very crowded, the bus is empty this late at night. In big city buses the seats are not in rows like on school buses, the seats are long narrow benches that run the length of the entire bus and face one another, I almost fall off of my seat when the bus lurches to a start, I drop my bag to catch my balance, I grab the narrow window ledge behind the seat to keep my balance, I hang on to the window ledge the whole ride to our hotel. The bus stops several times to let people on or off, each time the bus lurches I hold the window ledge a little tighter. I see a lady with a cane get on the bus and a man carrying shopping bags get off the bus. The city goes by in a blur, it is so dark outside that you are unable to distinguish what you are seeing, it is all a blur of movement and shapes passing in the dark of night. I am starting to get sleepy, I can not wait to get to our hotel to go to bed. The bus stops again and Mrs.. Hughes tells us this is our stop, we stand up, pick up our bags and get off of the bus. The air has gotten cooler, I shiver in my jacket, I want to be inside where it is warm. We walk to the end of the block, turn the corner to walk down half a block to our hotel, the hotel is another skyscraper the top of the building is in the clouds. We walk thru the front doors in to the hotel lobby, Mrs.. Hughes walks up to the front desk to sign the registration log and to get our room keys, it feels like we are waiting forever in the lobby. Mrs.. Hughes finally returns, we start walking towards the elevators, I am so tired I am about to drop, when we reach the bank of elevators all in a row, Mr.. Nail presses the up button, a few seconds later the elevator arrives and opens for us to all get inside, it is very crowded with all of us crammed together with all of our bags, the door closes and Mrs.. Hughes hits the number for our floor, we are whisked upstairs, my stomachs does flip flops once again, a moment later the elevator doors open on our floor, we all start walking down this really long hallway, we stop at a door part way down the hallway, Mr.. Nail says that this is the boys hotel room, we say good bye to the boys and continue walking down the hallway, our room is at the other end of the hallway, Mrs.. Hughes opens the door to our room, our room is a double room with a connecting door on the inside to the next room, our room has two queen beds and two cots inside, Mrs.. Hughes and Mrs.. Kohutes room has just two queen bed inside. Mrs.. Hughes says that each bed will sleep two girls and that everyone will get one night on a cot while we are here. Jessica and I got cots the first night, I was so tired I did not even care, I would have slept on the floor it feels good to be able to finally set my bag on the ground. Mrs.. Hughes tells us to brush our teeth, change in to our pajamas and go straight to bed. Everyone was waiting in line to brush there teeth so I put my pajamas on then got my tooth brush to brush my teeth before going to bed. It felt nice to have clean teeth after traveling all afternoon and evening. I lay on my cot and listen to the other girls get ready for bed, as I am dozing off I hear Mrs.. Hughes say good night and turn off the light and shut the connecting door.
The next morning Mrs.. Kohute comes in to our room to wake us up, she turns on the over head light and says good morning to us, she goes back to her room to finish getting ready for the day. I sit up on the cot and rub my eyes, I can not believe it is morning already, I was dead to the world last night as soon as my head hit the pillow w. I go to my bag to get my clothes to start getting ready for the day, when I am dressed, have my hair and teeth brushed, have made my cot, put everything back in my bag, then I finally sit and relax for a minute while my friends finish getting ready for the day. Mrs.. Hughes comes in to tell us that it is time to walk down the hallway to the boys room, I tie my Fannie pack around my waste, this has my spending money and an extra pony tail holder inside, then walk out our room door, Mrs.. Hughes locks the door then we walk down the hallway towards the boys room. Mrs.. Kohute knocks on the door and all the guys come out in the hallway with us girls, we say hello to the boys, Mrs.. Hughes says we should start walking towards the bank of elevators, I am excited and ready to start my day in Washington DC. My stomach does flip flops on the elevator once again then we are thru the lobby and outside in the warm morning air. A gray van is parked down the block for us to use in Washington DC, the van is very small it is supposed to only sit eight we are cramming twelve inside all at once. Mr.. Nail and Mr.. Kohute sit in the driver and passenger seats, Mrs. Hughes and Mrs.. Kohute sit in the front row with Jessica squeezed between them, Heidi, Elizabeth and Chasity sit in the back row, David, Adam and Ryan are on there knees in the very back of the van, where the luggage usually goes, I am sitting on the hump in between rows one and two. This is how we travel the entire time we are in our nations capital, it is very crowded and uncomfortable traveling, luckily we never have far to go before we can get out of the van.
Mrs.. Hughes says the first place we are going is on a tour of the White House, I am so excited to see the White House. As we start to drive thru the city the skyscrapers give way to a patchwork of beautiful gently flowing lawns and a sea of historic monuments. History comes alive as you travel thru our nations capital. As we approached the White House the first thing I see is the magnificent green of the east lawn, then I see the White House in all of its magnificent splendor the view takes my breathe away, I turn my head to tell Chasity and I see the Capitol building at the other end of the street, the dome is larger then I could have ever imagined, I hope we can go inside of the Capitol building while we are in Washington DC, I am on sensory overload. The van is parked about half a block away from the White House, we all pile out on to the sidewalk, Mrs.. Kohute tells us to partner up, Chasity and I are partners, we start to walk down the street towards the side gates. When we arrive there is already a large crowd waiting for the tour to begin, a tour guide comes out and says Maryland School For The Deaf and Indiana School For The Blind step forward, we are to be at the very front of this large group of people, experiencing and seeing everything before anyone else, I am very excited. The tour guide tells us to get in to a single file line in order to walk thru a security check point, we all line up single file, Mrs.. Hughes tells Ryan and Chasity to give her there canes, Chasity grabs my arm, Mrs.. Hughes gives the canes to a security guard, we all pass thru the security check point, Mrs.. Hughes gives them back there canes and Chasity lets go of my arm. We walk thru the gates on to the White House walkways, the paths curve gently thru the sea of green and blend seamlessly in to the White House lawn, the lawns seem to go on forever and are beautifully maintained, the second floor balcony is huge, it looks like you could play an entire basketball game up there with room to spare for spectators. The tour guide begins the tour by telling us some of the history of the White House, did you know the British set the House on fire in 1814, the second floor balcony is named after President Truman, the White House started to crumble in the 1950s and had to be completely restored, the First family stayed at Blair House during the lengthy restoration. As we prepare to enter the White House we have to go thru another security check point, Chasity grabs my arm as we pass thru the security check point. My memory gets a little hazy here. I was surprised in the Red Room, the Blue Room and the Green Room that everything was the exact same color in these rooms, Dumb I know, these rooms were decorated in fascinating 18th, 19th and early 20th century furnishings, the antiques were breathe taking, it made me feel like I was walking thru history. All of the rooms in the White House have breathe taking beautiful curtains that frame every window looking outside on to the White House lawn. The meeting rooms all have gorgeous oak tables, little side tables with period lamps to light the rooms and antique chairs. The walls of the White House are covered with works of art from all over the world, portraits of previous presidents and first ladies. I saw a map of the United States from the 1800s, the calligraphy was really intricate and poetic. I could not believe how crowded the White House was, there were people walking everywhere, the sheer size of the White House amazed me from the outside it does not look nearly this large or imposing. Mr.. Nail and Mrs.. Hughes are describing what everything looks like to Ryan and Chasity the Braille kids in our class. The tour guide have to slow down a couple of times when we almost run into the tour group in front of ours. The tour concludes with our tour guide thanking us for touring the White House, hoping that we have learned more about this historic house and telling us to exit the same gate we came in.
Mrs.. Kohute tells us to pair up again, as soon as we have gone thru the White House gates, for the walk back down the street to the van. We all take our places in the van, Mr.. Hughes drives us to a fast food restaurant to eat breakfast, we order breakfast sandwiches and drink orange juice for breakfast, we eat all of our meals at fast food restaurant during our entire stay in our nations capital, after breakfast we all climb back in to the van to continue our day full of sight seeing at national and historical monuments. Mr.. Nail says we are going to see the Lincoln Memorial, I know that president Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation to free the slaves and was later assassinated. The view of Washington DC driving from the White House to the Lincoln Memorial is a mixture of lush green open spaces interspersed with office buildings that reach to the sky, it is the perfect blend of modern and historic all in one uniquely designed space of masterful architecture. The van is parked about half a block away from the Lincoln Memorial, we all pile out on to the sidewalk, Mrs.. Kohute tells us to partner up, Chasity and I are partners, we start to walk down the street towards the Lincoln Memorial. Mr.. Nail tells us to stay close as the streets are very crowded with groups of people walking and eating picnic style sack lunches on the plush green lawns all around us, as we try to make our way towards the Lincoln Memorial. In order to reach the Lincoln Memorial you have to walk up a gently rising twisting and curving path surrounded by plush green lawns. You hear the birds nesting inside the memorial before you even see the Lincoln Memorial, I am not sure why we am hearing birds when we are supposed to be visiting a memorial. The massive columns supporting the Lincoln Memorial are the first thing you see when you reach the top of the path, these columns look large enough for our whole class to stand around and still not be able to touch each others hands. The reason we heard birds is the entire memorial is a massive two story open air structure with birds nesting in the beams at the very top of the building. The statue of Abraham Lincoln sitting in his chair is massive at least twenty feet tall and ten feet wide. This memorial does not have a tour guide just pictures and listening booths where you press a button to hear all about Abraham Lincoln life, this is a great feature for the Braille kids in our class, Mrs.. Hughes describes to them what all of the pictures on the walls are showing, I see one of a cannon, a confederate and union soldiers uniform and an 1860s musket. President Lincoln was assassinated at Forbes theatre in 1865, shortly after the conclusion of the Civil War. I learned that the Civil war was a terrible war but at the end of that war the slaves were freed and our country became a better place for all of its citizens regardless of the color of your skin. I feel privileged to have seen the Lincoln Memorial and to have learned more about that great man Abraham Lincoln. Mr.. Kohute tells us to pair back up, we walk back down the windy path thru the plush green lawns towards the van parked halfway down the block, we all climb back in to the van, it feels nice to sit down after all of that walking and Mrs.. Kohute tells us our next stop is the Washington Monument.
The van is parked about half a block away from the Washington Monument, we all pile out on to the sidewalk, Mrs.. Kohute tells us to partner up, Chasity and I are partners, we start to walk down the street towards the Washington Monument. The Washington Monument is the tallest building in Washington DC. The tour guide began his talk by telling us about the life of George Washington at the base of the monument. He told us how Washington lead the soldiers in there battle for freedom against Great Britain. The soldiers lived in horrible conditions during the war for independence, living in tents during the notoriously brutal colony winters, not having enough clothing or shoes for all of the troops to fight in during combat against the British forces, disease and starvation were a constant problem for the colony armies, more men died from the elements then in combat during the harsh colony winters. At the end of the war when the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776 in Philadelphia, George Washington was elected the new nations first president. He could have become like a new king in the colonies but he embraced democracy and all of its values and virtues, he served in office only one term when he could have been elected to an indefinite term in office. This is why George Washington is remembered as one of the great founding fathers and leaders of American history. I felt inspired and told Chasity that I wished I could have met the man himself. We thank our tour guide for a wonderful tour, Mrs.. Kohute tells us to pair up again, for the walk back down the street to the van. We all take our places in the van, Mr.. Hughes drives us to a fast food restaurant to eat lunch, we order Happy Meals and drink soda pop for lunch, after eating we all climb back in to the van to continue our day full of sight seeing at national and historical monuments. Mr.. Nail says we are going to see the Capitol Building.
The van is parked about half a block away from the Capitol Building, we all pile out on to the sidewalk, Mrs.. Kohute tells us to partner up, Chasity and I are partners, we start to walk down the street towards the Capitol Building, I can see the White House at the opposite end of the street. The Capitol Building is huge from the outside, there are two wings jutting off the main dome shape, I assume these contain the offices for the members of Congress. We are greeted by our tour guide who walks us thru the Capitol Buildings giant main doors that have to be at least ten feet tall. We enter the large main corridor to the Capitol Building, this space is huge the roof of the dome is at least four stories high, there are balconies all along the walls of the upper levels I assume so the members of Congress can look down and relax for a minute when they have a break from there myriad of committee meeting and mountain of paperwork. The tour guide walks us up to one of the Capitol Buildings massive columns, tells us to stand around the column, try to touch each others fingers, even with all fifteen of us we are barely able to reach around the column. I did not know that columns could even be made this large in size. The tour guide tells us that you can hear a whisper from the other side of the room, I am very skeptical being in such a large and crowded space that I will be able to hear anything, the tour guide disappears in to the crowd, a few minutes later we hear plain as day from our tour guide, "Good afternoon Indiana School For The Blind", I am in total shock and disbelief that I could hear him from across the room, a few minutes later he comes back to tell us the reason we could hear him is because of the dome shape of the building effecting the acoustics in the room, I am very impressed with this trick. We thank our tour guide for a wonderful tour, Mr.. Nail tells us to pair up again for the walk back down the street to the van. We all take our places in the van, Mrs.. Kohute says we are going to visit the Vietnam Memorial.
The van is parked about half a block away from the Vietnam Memorial, we all pile out on to the sidewalk, Mrs.. Kohute tells us to partner up, Chasity and I are partners, we start to walk down the street towards the Vietnam Memorial. As we approach the memorial a hush comes over our group, I have the sense that we are coming in to the presence of great men who paid the ultimate price for our countries freedom and liberty. The Vietnam Memorial is a massive wall that seems to go on for miles and miles, covered in the 58,000 names of the men who died fighting for our countries freedom. It is over whelming the sheer number of people who died in this one war, I am unable to comprehend this number. I see a group of soldiers in uniform walk across the grounds of the memorial, I wonder if they have just returned from serving in Iraq. I see people moving there fingers up and down the lists of names looking for a lost loved one who died so long ago and so far away from home in Vietnam. Mrs.. Kohute tells Adam that she had an uncle who served and died in Vietnam, they walk off to try to find his name on this massive wall of names. I see people leaving cards, gifts, flowers and photos at the base of the wall, I also see a lot of people kneeling in prayer and crying at the wall of names. My grandfather served as a surgical doctor for ten years in the military, six of them on a ship off the coast of Vietnam. I can not imagine my life without my grandfather as a major figure in my world. I feel honored to have read the names of these brave men, I say a silent prayer of thanks to the men who paid the ultimate sacrifice for me. I believe Mrs.. Kohute has been crying when I see her a little later on towards the end of the wall, her eyes are slightly red and puffy. Mrs.. Hughes tells us to pair up again for the walk back down the street to the van, we all take our places in the van. I feel emotionally drained after visiting the Vietnam Memorial.
Mr.. Hughes drives us to a fast food restaurant to eat dinner, we order Happy Meals and drink milk for dinner, after eating we all climb back in to the van to start the drive back to our hotel for the night. We all pile on to the sidewalk, we walk thru the front doors in to the hotel lobby, I am so tired I am about to drop, when we reach the bank of elevators all in a row, Mr.. Nail presses the up button, a few seconds later the elevator arrives and opens for us to all get inside, the door closes and Mrs.. Hughes hits the number for our floor, we are whisked upstairs, my stomach does flip flops once again, a moment later the elevator doors open on our floor, we say good bye to the boys at there door and continue walking down the hallway, our room is at the other end of the hallway, Mrs.. Hughes says that Chasity and Elizabeth will be on cots tonight, I am glad to be in a bed tonight, it feels good to be able to finally sit down. Mrs.. Hughes tells us to brush our teeth, change in to our pajamas and go straight to bed. Everyone was waiting in line to brush there teeth so I put my pajamas on then got my tooth brush to brush my teeth before going to bed. I lay on my bed and listen to the other girls get ready for bed, as I am dozing off I hear Mrs.. Kohute say good night and turn off the light and shut the connecting door.
The next morning Mrs.. Hughes comes in to our room to wake us up, she turns on the over head light and says good morning to us, she looks funny in her pajamas without any makeup on, her hair is a total mess going all over the place, I am so used to seeing her very neat and put together, she goes back to her room to finish getting ready for the day. I can not believe it is morning already, I was dead to the world last night as soon as my head hit the pillow. I go to my bag to get my clothes to start getting ready for the day, when I am dressed, have my hair and teeth brushed, put everything back in my bag, then I finally sit and relax for a minute while my friends finish getting ready for the day. Mrs.. Hughes says we should start walking towards the bank of elevators, we say hello to the boys at there door. My stomach does flip flops on the elevator once again then we are thru the lobby and outside in the warm morning air. We all climb in to the van, Mr.. Hughes drives us to a fast food restaurant to eat breakfast, we order breakfast sandwiches and drink milk for breakfast, after eating we all climb back in to the van to start our day of sight seeing. Mr.. Kohute tells us we are going to Maryland to ride the tallest escalator in the world, the only escalators I have ever been on has been at the mall. Mr.. Nail says that to get to the escalator we are going to ride the subway, what is a subway? Jessica asks, he says that it is a train the travels underground thru tunnels. We travel deep in to the city, skyscrapers are all around us, the van is parked about half a block away from the entrance to the subway station, we all pile out on to the sidewalk, Mrs.. Kohute tells us to partner up, Jessica and I are partners, we start to walk down the street towards the subway station. To reach the subway we have to walk downstairs in to the ground, the stairs are steep, long, narrow and are not lit very well, Mr.. Nail tells us to hold on to the railing and walk very slowly down the stairs. I can feel my feet vibrating on the ground as I walk down the stairs. The subway station is very crowded with people, there are shops all along the far walls of the station. You can hear and feel the vibrations of the subway approaching long before you are able to see the shining lights come thru the tunnel. You have to pay money to walk thru a turn style before you are allowed on the subway platform. When a subway comes in you hear the hiss of the brakes, a loud voice telling everyone to get behind the yellow line on the platform for safety while the train is coming to a halt, doors automatically open all up and down the subway, people pour off the train it seems to me in a mad dash to be the first one off the subway. Mr.. Kohute says our subway will be arriving any minute now, we slowly make our way down to the departure platform, I can already feel the vibrations of the approaching subway. As the subway approaches the blast of the whistle is almost deafening, the brakes sound like a million fingers going down a wall of chalk boards. We stand far back from the yellow line so that we will not be trampled by the people leaving the subway. The doors open, people rush off as if in a race, when the doors clear Mr.. Nail tells us to walk to the edge of the platform, Mrs. Kohute says to form a single file line to board the subway one at a time, as I wait in line my apprehension grows, I am afraid the doors will close on me before I can step in the subway leaving me stranded on the platform as my class goes away, silly I know, when I board the subway I almost lose my balance, even though the subway is stopped there is still a great deal of shaking and vibrating, I have to grab the sides of the door to steady myself, then I step on the subway. In the subway the seats are not in rows like on school buses, the seats are long narrow benches that run the length of the entire subway and face one another, I almost fall off of my seat when the subway lurches to a start, I shove my partner a little on accident when I try to catch my balance, I grab the narrow window ledge behind the seat to keep my balance, I hang on to the window ledge the entire way to our stop on the subway. The subway stops several times to let people on or off, the noise of the brakes is not as loud inside the subway car, each time the subway lurches I hold the window ledge a little tighter. It feels like we are on the subway forever, the subway is very crowded, all of the teachers have to stand the entire time we are on the subway, holding on to racks above there heads for dear life, swaying with the trains every movement to keep there balance. I am squeezed between Jessica and a lady carrying a large shopping bag, I feel like a sardine trapped in a can that someone is shaking very hard and fast, will we ever reach our destination. Finally, Mr.. Kohute says our stop is coming up and for us to prepare to leave the subway, our destination must be near the end of the subway line because our section is practically empty, everyone now has a seat to sit on and no one is left standing in the aisle. The subway lurches to a stop, the brakes squeal, the subway shudders to a halt, the door open, I step confidently this time on to the platform and away from the yellow line. Mrs.. Kohute tells us to partner up again, I grab Jessica's hand as we start to walk away from the subway platform. Mr.. Nail reminds us that we are about to ride the tallest escalator in the world, needless to say I am very excited and a little scared to go this high in the air. As we approach the escalators I have the feeling that we are in a cave, the walls surrounding the escalators are solid rock, the lights have been built in to the rock to help people see on the escalator, the rock feels very smooth with a few rough patches around the edge of the wall. The escalator goes up so high in the air that you can not even see the end of the stairs they just disappear in to thin air like magic. Mr.. Nail tells to form a single file line to step on the escalator, I grab the railing and step on with Chasity behind me and Jessica in front of me. Mrs.. Hughes says she is going to time how long it takes us to reach the top of the escalator, it feels like I am on it for a very long time, no one really talks as we go higher in the air, I am hunched over afraid that if I stand up straight I will lose my balance and fall backwards in to Jessica. When we finally reach the top of the escalator it is a relief to step back on to solid ground and be able to stand up straight. Mrs.. Hughes says we were on the escalator for four minutes, it felt like an eternity to me. Mr.. Nail tells us to pair up again, we have time to look at the stores on this level before the subway arrives to take us back to Washington. I tell Mrs.. Hughes that I want to buy a souvenir in one of the shops, we start to look in the various shops all I am seeing is a bunch of T-shirts for sale, I am getting a little frustrated that I am unable to find any souvenirs to take back to school with me to show my friends, after a lot of looking we finally come across a souvenir shop in one of the last stores we visit, I buy palm size miniatures of the Lincoln Memorial and of the White House for under fifteen dollars, there design is very intricate, you can feel the shape and contour of the buildings in your hands, this is something that I will cherish forever. Mrs.. Hughes says that it is time to start walking back towards the subways to catch the next one to arrive back to Washington. Mrs.. Hughes says that we will be taking the elevator down to the subway platform. When we arrive at the elevator it is made of solid glass even the floor, when the doors open we all crowd in to the elevator, Mr.. Nail hits the down button, my stomach does flip flops as the elevator moves, you can see the rocks vibrating all around the outside of the elevator, when the doors open we all pile out, Mr.. Nail tells us to partner up again, our subway will be arriving any minute now, we slowly make our way down to the departure platform, I can already feel the vibrations of the approaching subway. When the subway arrives the brakes squeal, the doors open and the people make there mad dash off of the subway, we stand well behind the yellow line. We board the subway, our section is practically empty, we all get seats together, even the teachers are able to sit down this time. I hold the window ledge the entire ride back in to the city as the subway shakes and lurches down the tracks. The subway rapidly fills with people the closer we get to the city, I start to feel like a sardine in an over crowded can I am squeezed so tightly between Jessica and Chasity. We finally reach our stop, people make there mad dash out, we leave the subway once the rush is over, Mrs.. Hughes tells us to partner up again, we walk thru the subway station, Mr.. Nail tells us to take it slow on the poorly lit stairs to the surface, finally we are at street level, it feels good to breathe fresh air once more. We walk the half block to the van and climb inside, Mr.. Nail drives us to a fast food restaurant to eat lunch, we order Happy Meals and drink soda pop for lunch, after eating we all climb back in to the van to continue our day of sight seeing. When we were back in the van Mrs.. Kohute told us we were going to the Jefferson Memorial. The Jefferson Memorial is in an open air building, the memorial is a larger then life statue of President Jefferson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, he fought to make our nation free from Ternary and oppression. Mrs.. Hughes said that it was time to head for the airport to fly back to school. I am sad that my time in our nations capitol has come to and end, I have made memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life, the experiences of the last few days will last me a life time.
We walk the two blocks to a bus station, in a few minutes a bus arrives to take us to the airport, Mrs.. Hughes pays the bus fair as we board the bus, the bus is crowded with passengers, the teachers have to stand in the middle section hanging on to the railings as the bus sways and lurches along, I hold the window ledge the entire ride to the airport, I can not even enjoy my final minutes in our nations capital the bus is so crowded with people. We are told to partner up again after the bus leaves us on the sidewalk outside the entrance to the airport. When we reach the security check point all of the teachers bags are searched, the scanner showed all of the souvenirs they were carrying for us students, so the bags were opened and searched, I am sure the teachers were very embarrassed to have someone pawing thru there personal belongings. After the security check we walk to the baggage check in to hand over our bags then we proceed to the boarding gate to wait for the flight to board. The flight attendant tells our group to board early, we walk thru the arm to the plane, once we are on the plane we are shown to our section of seats. We are seated in the exact same order as when we came to Washington, Mr.. Nail, Heidi and I are in a row together, I have the window seat, this time I do not need assistance with my seat belt. When the planes powerful engines start I am thrust back in to my seat with the force of the plane moving forward down the runway and in to the air. Washington looks beautiful from the sky, I can see the Washington Monument from the air. When the seat belt sign goes off a flight attendant comes on the loudspeaker to say dinner will be served shortly. I can not wait to try airplane food I have always heard that it tastes worse then even hospital food. A flight attendant comes along offering us either coffee or cola as a drink, Heidi and I want cola with the dinner, Mr.. Nail wants coffee, she says the food will be along shortly. When the food arrives we are served meatloaf, corn and some kind of yellow jello food that looks gross and is squishy when I touch it with my fork, the meatloaf tastes perfect, the corn is cold and the jello stuff I do not even try to eat. After I wash everything down with my cola, I switch seats with Heidi, I put down my footrest and recline my seat to try to take a little nap. The next thing I know Mr.. Nail is waking me up as we get ready to land back in Indianapolis, I put my footrest and chair in the correct position, a few minutes later the seatbelt sign comes on again. I am still trying to wipe the sleep from my eyes and wake up as we start the descent towards the ground. I am jerked back in my seatbelt as the plane touches the ground and begins the taxi towards are arrival gate. We exit the plane, walk thru the arm towards the terminal, past the arrival desk towards the baggage carousel to collect our bags. It takes forever for our bags to finally appear, we pick them up, wait forever at the security check point, we are finally free in the fresh air outside the terminal. A spacious school van is waiting for us at the curb, we actually have room to move our arms without hitting anyone, we are driven back to school, the van lets us off at the entrance to our dorm. I am so tired that I go right to the showers and straight to bed, I do not even talk to anyone until the next morning. These memories will last me the rest of my life.

Weird

2007-06-29T21:24:00.000-04:00

When I talked to my family about the school, they thought the school rules were weird. Having a 9:30 lights out in the 7th grade. Not being able to study in your bedroom. Having no privacy in the dorms. Every day having to attend recreation time, even if you did not feel like being there. When I was in elementary school, at dinner the dorm parents made us take at least one bite of everything on our plate. I HATE spinach, brussell sprouts and cooked brocoli, at least twice a week I would have to try one of these foods at dinner time. I usually tried to choke it down with a drink of milk, sometimes it helped sometimes it did not help me eat the food.

Blind Camp

2007-06-29T21:19:00.000-04:00

The highlight of my summer, was when my parents let me go, to the week long blind summer camp, where I got to spend a whole week with my friends from school at camp. My mom would take me to school, where I would wait with my friends, Jessica, Elizabeth, and Lisa for the bus to camp. We would all sit together on the bus ride to camp. When we got to camp, we would wait in the Activity Hall, to be assigned a cabin and counselor. Jessica, Elizabeth, Lisa and I always requested to be placed in the same cabin together. The last two summers we went to camp, we were in Cabin 7 with the same fun counselor. After we unpacked our bags and made our beds, we went down to the lake for a nice long swim. We took showers when we were done swimming, then we went to dinner in the camp caffeteria. After dinner, the whole camp met at the flag poles, to lower the flags, two cabins were selected to lower the camp flags and fold them for the night. Then we went to the camp amphatheatre to sing songs and tell stories. We went back to our cabins to get ready for bed and lights out. This was the first day of summer camp.

Day Students

2007-06-29T21:16:00.000-04:00

When I was in second and third grades my family lived in Indianapolis, I was a day student for two years, traveling home daily to be with my family at home. The difference in being a day student is that I know that I will see my family that evening at home. As a residential student I had to wait until Friday evening to be with my family at home.

My mom would wake me up at 6:00 a.m. I would get up and get dressed then watch some television in the family room with my sisters. When mom says it is time to eat, my sisters and I go to the kitchen to have breakfast. After breakfast, I brush my teeth, my mom tells me to get my back pack and coat on, it is time to start watching for the school bus. When the bus arrives, I say good bye to my mom then get on the bus. I am the first pick up of the morning, Anna is picked up right after me. The students on my bus are all in high school. As the bus picks up more students, I stare out the window, watching the sky change colors, as the sun starts to rise, in the morning sky.

The bus arrives at school about ten minutes before the first bell of the day. I walked to my dorm, to talk to my friends before school. The bell rang, I went to school with my friends. The last bell of the day rang at 3:15 p.m, I said good bye to my friends, as they headed back to the dorm for the evening. I went to the gym to wait for a teacher to tell me my bus had arrived to take me home. The wait was never very long, I got on the bus to go home for the evening.

When the bus dropped me off at home, I went inside to tell my mom about my day at school. I went to play, outside on the hill with my sisters, until mom said it was time to eat dinner. After dinner, I brushed my teeth, watched television or played Barbie with my sisters. After a while, mom said that it was time to start getting ready for bed, I went to my bedroom, put on my pajama's, then turned off the light and went to sleep. As I drifted off to sleep, I felt very fortunate to be going to sleep in my own bed, instead of in the school dorm.

I wanted to stay connected to the girls in my dorm, my mom made the arraignments for me to stay at school one night per week. On the day that I stayed over night in the dorms, I would take an overnight bag with me to school. In the morning, when I got to the dorm, I would put my bag in my locker, go to school with my friends. After school, I returned to the dorm with my friends, to participate in all of the dorm activities that I missed out on as a day student. At bed time, I liked listening to my friends talk as we all got ready for bed. When I woke up in the morning, the dorm parent was waking me up instead of my mom. I got ready for school with my friends, instead of my sisters at home. I ate breakfast in the school cafeteria, not in the kitchen at home. When we went back to the dorm to brush our teeth and get my books for school. The bell rang, I went to school with my friends. The last bell of the day rang at 3:15 p.m, I said good bye to my friends, as they headed back to the dorm for the evening. I went to the gym to wait for a teacher to tell me my bus had arrived to take me home. The wait was never very long, I got on the bus to go home for the evening. When I arrived home, I told my mom about all of the fun things that I had done at school, I went outside to play with my sisters. I had fun staying the night at school.

ISB Scare

2007-06-29T21:15:00.001-04:00

The dorm, was usually a big happy family, until one night, an accident occurred, that turned the dorm dark and scary in the blink of an eye. In sixth grade, my friend Ester, cut her wrist and had to have several stitches. She was running down the stairs to the bathroom, without thinking she put her hands on a glass pane in the bathroom door, pushing on it and breaking the glass causing the glass to cut her wrist. The house parent came running from her office and my friends and I came from the study room when we heard Ester scream. "I just told you not to run in the dorm Ester! Nicole ran upstairs to the laundry room to get towels to try and stop the bleeding. HURRY!" "I'll never be able to use my arm again!" "Yes you will I am taking you to the hospital to let them fix your arm." The blood looked like bingo chips as it fell on the floor. "I can not believe this is happening, the bleeding is still not under control Lisa!" "It will be all right Jessica, Ester is on her way to the hospital." I just stood around, kind of in shock, unable to believe what had just happened to a close friend. The dorm parent lead Ester out of the dorm towards a waiting car that would take her to the hospital. One Ester left the dorm we all just stood around kind of in shock. Nicole got the mop from the downstairs bathroom and started to mop the blood up in the wash bucket. A few minutes later a dorm parent arrived from another dorm to tell us that we could go to REC if we wanted to. I did not feel like going to REC so I went back upstairs to my room to lay on my bed, I could not believe that this had happened in the dorm. I learned a few days later, that Ester had staples put in her arm. Ester almost lost enough blood to require a transfusion, she was going to be all right. I never looked at that glass door the same way again, even after they replaced the glass pane.

FIRE!!

2007-06-29T21:14:00.000-04:00

In the middle of a cold January night, in Wilson Hall, dorm four, the dorm parent woke us up, saying we had to quickly leave the dorm, there was a fire in Wilson two dorm. We all got out of bed, left the dorm in single file, walked downstairs, out of the building, away from the school. We stood barefoot on the sidewalk, shivering, for what seemed like forever, my feet felt like they were going numb from the cold, before one of the dorm parents, had the idea to let us all pile into the staff cars, to get warm. All ten of the girls in my dorm fit in one car, Jessica and Laura sat on my lap. After a while, we were told to leave the car, walk across the parking lot, to the administration building, when I walked on the welcome mat, my feet were so cold that it felt like someone was putting knives in my feet. The dorm parents took us to a faculty lounge, where we sat for a while, waiting for word that we could go back to our dorm. When we finally went back to our dorm, it was time to start getting ready for school. We were very tired that day. We learned later, that the fire in dorm two, had actually been a microwave that had started smoking and shooting out sparks, in the middle of the night.

Stacey

2007-06-29T21:13:00.000-04:00

There was a girl named Stacey, in Alder Hall, dorm 3/4, who had alot of problems, she would scream and hit the house parents. She slept, almost every night, in the dorms time out room, a room for kids who have misbehaved in the dorm. One day, in Lambert Hall, dorm 1, Stacey got a knife, chased us girls through the dorm, the house parent had to restrain her, told us girls, to go to the lobby and get some help. Shortly after this incident, Stacey left the school.

Celebrations At School

2007-06-29T21:11:00.000-04:00

My birthday's were spent at school. Every month, during kendargarden and first grades, in Lambert Hall, the staff, would have a party, for everyone, celebrating a birthday that month. Stephanie and I, had our birthday's in May, four days apart. The party, would have cake, ice cream, and party hats. The entire dorm, would sing Happy Birthday. When I moved to Wilson Hall, in third grade, there were no more birthday parties, in the dorms, just a happy birthday call from home. Early in the morning, before I went to breakfast, my family, would call the dorm, to sing and wish me, Happy Birthday.

When I was in elementary school we would put on our Halloween costumes, walk to all of the older girls and boys dorms on campus to get candy, stickers and pencils. Then we would go back to our dorm and play games and eat candy.

When I was in fourth grade we went to the superintendents house to get candy, he jumped out in a warewolf costume and chased us around the yard, we all screamed and ran away, then he gave us candy. We all laughed and had a fun time after we got done being scared.

The week of Thanksgiving, school ended, on a Wednesday. On that day, my school, would have a huge Thanksgiving lunch, with all the trimmings, the food was really good. We would go home, after classes ended, to be with our families, for the holiday.

The week before Christmas vacation, all of the girls dorms, would have Christmas parties. Everyone in the girls and boys quads would attend the parties. You would talk to your friends, listen to music, eat the food and sing Christmas songs. The dorm hosting the party, would have some of their girls, act as hostesses, to make sure, the refreshment table stayed full of food, that everyone was having a good time, at the party.

The week before Christmas vacation, the piano department, gave a Christmas concert. The concert, was a VERY formal affair, everyone dressed up in there fanciest clothes. My hair, was done in, two long French Braides, I wore a long black dress, with a white collar. The dinning room, was completely transformed, the tables, were covered with linen table clothes, we were served and ate by candle light. The piano players, were allowed to bring, one guest to dinner, my mom, watched me play, Jingle Bells, in front of the whole school. The highlight, of the night, was being able to perform, in front of my mom. After the dinner, my mom left, we went to the gym, for the Christmas dance. My friends and I danced, until my legs were so tired, that I was barely able to stand. We talked, on the way, back to the dorm, about how exciting and fun, the night had been for everyone.

My dorm, would have a Secret Santa, Gift Exchange. You picked a name, out of the hat, then you bought that person a gift. ($10 price limit) I usually got books, since I LOVE to read.

In Wilson Hall, the Christmas dance, was held in the activity area. After the dinner, we went to the dance. My friends and I danced, talked to each other, listened to music, ate junk food, until it was time to go, back to the dorms.

Away Games

2007-06-29T20:35:00.000-04:00

In grade seven, you are elligable, to participate, in the schools athletic program. This is a big deal, the first year, you can compete, in away game athletic competitions, hosted at other state blind schools, over the weekend. Track meets, were held in the fall, cheerleading competitions, were held in the winter. For track and cheerleading, I stayed at school, for six weeks. The Tennessee School for the Blind, was a seven hour bus ride. The Illinious School for the Blind, was a five hour bus ride. The Kentucky School for the blind, was a three hour bus ride. The track meet championship, was held in Tennessee. The cheerleading championship, was held at the Minnesota State Academy for the Blind, a sixteen hour bus ride.

The highlight of the track and cheerleading seasons, was to be selected to compete in away game competitions, hosted at other state blind schools, over the weekend. The day before the team left for the competition, the coaches would decide, which athletes would represent the school at the competition. All day I hoped that my name would be called to represent the school. After practice, the coaches announced who would be competing over the weekend. When my name was called, I was so surprised and excited, that I started running back towards the school to tell my friends. That night, I called home to tell my mom that I had made the away game team, would not be coming home that weekend.

The Friday that the athletic team left for the away game, started out like any other day at school. My alarm clock woke me up, I got dressed and made my bed. I walked down to breakfast in the dining room. After breakfast, I returned to the dorm to get my books for school. At 8 am I went to school, I attended Home room, Social Studies and Math class, part way through math class, my teacher told me to head to the gym. When I went to the gym, the coaches did a roll call to make sure everyone was there. We took our lugage out to the bus, the coaches made sure our names were on our bags, the bus driver loaded our bags in the bend under the bus. When we got on the bus, I got seats with my friend Jessica, roll call was taken once again, the bus finally started moving, left the parking lot at school. The bus was real neat, we had reclining seats, a foot rest, a reading light over the seat, there was even a bathroom at the back of the bus. I slept on the bus, then talked to Jessica on the way to the school. The bus stopped at a McDonald's for lunch. The bus stopped, we went inside and stood around for a while waiting to order our burgers and fries. There were so many of us that it took FOREVER to get any food. For lunch, I ordered an Extra Value meal with a Coke. Jessica and I found a table, talked for a while in the restraunt. After we were through eating, we got back on the bus, to continue traveling to the school.

The campus, looked different from my campus. The buildings were not all connected by tunnels. Every building was seperate, you went to the different buildings for different reasons. When we first arrived at the school, the coaches told the girls to get off the bus, we grabbed our lugage from under the bus, the female staff did roll call, lead us into the dormitory. We were lead upstairs to a long corridor, filled with girls from all over the midwest, every one was carrying lugage and being shown to a door. The staff kept telling us to stay together and to keep moving down the corridor. The staff finally stopped, towards the end of the corridor, at a section labeled Indiana, there were twelve doors in our section of the corridor. The staff told a high school girl and I to enter the fourth door on the left. The room I entered was a cheerful looking bedroom, the room had two beds, dressers, closets, benches, night stands and a desk in the corner of the room. There were two sliding doors that connected the bathroom to each bedroom. The first time I went to use the bathroom, I almost forgot to shut the second bedrooms sliding door. The bathroom had double sinks, a long counter, a bathtub and tiolet. At this school four girls shared the same bathroom. After I looked around the bedroom and bathroom, I started to unpack my bag, the locker was locked, so all of my clothes went in the dresser drawers. I barely had time to unpack, when the staff started knocking on doors, telling us it was time to head to dinner. We were towards the end of the corridor, we had to wait for everyone else to leave, before we were able to start moving down the corridor and downstairs, to our waiting bus outside. When we made it outside, roll call was taken once again, then we boarded the bus to dinner.

When we arrived at the caffeteria building, we went inside, were seated at a group of tables labeled Indiana. We had to wait for our school to be called, before we were able to get any food. For meals at this school, you took a tray, went though the food service line, our staff showed us our tables, where we could eat our dinner. The cooks at my school served us our meals at our tables. When we were done eating, we had to take our trays to the tray return window, where someone was waiting to take and clean the dirty trays.

After dinner, roll call was taken once again, we got back on the bus. I thought we were going back to our rooms for the night. The bus took us to a building, where even before I was off the bus, I could hear loud music playing. The coaches said the host school was having a welcome dance for all of the athletes. We went inside the activity building, the music was so loud that you could hardly hear yourself think. The inside was just a large open room full of people. People were dancing in the center of the room. Tables and chairs were placed around the perimeter of the room, if you wanted to talk or for when you got tired of dancing. A corner of the room had tables piled full of snack foods, cookies, chips, pops and candy bars. I did not feel like dancing, I just wondered around the room looking at everything that was happening around me. I found a corner that had a video game, unfortunately the machine was not pluggeed in. Another corner had pop machines and a water fountain. I got tired of wondering around, decided to get some food, a drink, sit down and listen to the music for a while. The dance was over before I knew what had happened, the music was shut off, the coaches were telling us that we had to head back to our rooms for the night. We went back on the bus, roll call was taken once again. By the time we were back in our section of the dorm, I was getting very tired, I went to my room and went straight to bed.

Early the next morning, someone knocked on our door to tell us that we had to get up, to start getting ready to leave the dorm for breakfast. The night before, after the dance, the staff gave us our track uniform and warm up clothes. The track unniform was a green shirt and shorts that said I.S.B, in white letters, across the the front. The warm-up suit was green with Indiana in white letters down the left leg I put my track uniform on and made my bed, when I went in to brush my teeth, there were two other girls at the counter putting on there make-up, it was really crowded in the bathroom. The staff started knocking on doors, telling us it was time to head to breakfast. When we were on the bus roll call was taken once again, then the bus went to the caffeteria building for breakfast. The routine is the same for all meals at this school, you take a tray, went though the food service line, when you were done eating, you take the tray to the tray return window, where someone was waiting to take and clean the dirty trays. When we were on the bus after breakfast, roll call was taken once again, then the bus went to the gym building.

We went inside the gym building, the coaches lead us in warm-up stretches, then said when our events were scheduled that day. My events were the Four-Forty yard dash, the Sixty yard dash and the Three jump. The coaches had us jog from the gym to the track and field area. When we got to the track, the coaches told us to line up in rows four across behind the Illinious team. There were two highschool students holding up a banner that said Indiana. When the music started playing we were to march once around the track and stop at the start line behind Illinious. I felt so proud marching around the track, representing my school in track and field. Someone spoke of how they hoped all of the athletes had a fun day of competition, everyone cheered and clapped, the track meet had officially started. The Four-Forty yard dash was the first running event of the day. The Four-Forty is a race where you run back and forth four times on the straight track, this is a very long and tiring event, since you have to stop running at each end of the track to turn around, before you can run back to the opposite end of the track. I was very excited and starting to get a little nervous about the race. A staff member took me to the track, where I started to do some warm-up stretches. My name was called, the staff said to go on the track, someone said which lane I would be in, then said to go to the starting line. A runner for Illinious and Ohio were on either side of me. My nerves were no longer bothering me, I was just hoping that I did good in the race. The starting pistol fired and I took off, I was not concerned about how the other runners were doing in the race, I just wanted to turn around as fast as possible at the other end of the track. My legs started to feel real heavy halfway through lap three, I ignored my legs and kept on running, halfway through lap four my side started hurting, I kept thinking all I have to do is make this next turn around then I would be on the home stretch, the finish line was in sight, when I crossed the finish line I felt so excited and proud, I did not even care that I came in last place, I just felt good to have finished the race. A staff member congradulated me on running a good race, then I had a drink of water. I hardly had time to rest, before it was time for me to do the Sixty yard dash. My first thought was I cannot do another race, I can hardly walk after the Four-Forty. I knew that I had to race, so I slowly started walking back to the track. where I started to do some warm up stretches. My name was called, the staff said to go on the track, someone said which lane I would be in, then said to go to the starting line. A runner for Kentucky and Alabama were on either side of me. The finish line did not look very far away from me. I was just hoping that I did good in the race. The starting pistol fired and I took off, I was not concerned about how the other runners were doing in the race, I just wanted to get to the finish line as fast as possible. When I crossed the finish line, I felt so proud, I did not even care that I came in fifth place, I just felt good to have finished the race. My staff congradulated me on running a good race, then I had a drink of water. After my last event, I walked around the field for a I had some time before my last event, I walked around the field for a while, looking at all the different events and teams. My last event was the 440 yard dash. My teacher took me to the track, where I started to do some warm up stretches, I was very excited but no longer nervous about the race, I had already done one event on this track. My name was called, my teacher told me to go on the track, someone told me which lane I would be in, told me to go to the starting line. The finish line did not look very far away from me. I was just hoping that I did good in the race. The starting pistol fired and I took off, I was not concerned about how the other runners were doing in the race, I just wanted to get to the finish line as fast as possible. When I crossed the finish line, I felt so excited and proud, I did not even care that I came in fifth place, I just felt good to have finished the race. My teacher congradulated me on a good race, then I had a drink of water. My staff said that it was almost time for lunch, I went back to the track, where the rest of my team was assembling, the coaches lead us to the bus. When we were on the bus roll call was taken once again, then the bus went to the caffeteria building for lunch. After competing all morning, it felt good to be able to sit down for a while to eat some food, I did not know how tird I was until I was eating my lunch. After eating for a while, I felt rested and ready to compete in my last event. When we were on the bus after lunch, roll call was taken once again, then the bus went to the athletic field. The Tripple jump was the first event of the afternoon, my last event of the day. The triple jump is an event where you hop forward three times on one leg, then you jump into a sand area. A staff member took me to the Tripple Jump, where I stood around for a while whatching people rake the sand clean. This event was easy, I was not nervous. My name was called, my staff said to go to the jump area, someone said to wait until they said it was all right to jump. I hopped three times then jumped into the sand area. My staff congradulated me, then I had a drink of water. After my last event, I walked around the field for a while, looking at all the different events and teams. The High jump was neat to watch, I could not figure out how they were able to jump so high up in the air. The people who did the Shot Put must have been very strong, it looked very heavy. The track and field events were coming to an end, my team assembled on the track. Someone spoke of how all of the athletes should be congradulated for representing there school in a fine day of competition, everyone cheered and clapped, the track meet had officially come to an end. The coaches lead us to the bus. When we were on the bus roll call was taken once again, the coaches said how proud they were of each and everyone of us, we did our very best today, then the bus went to the dorm.

The first thing I wanted to do when I went back to my room was take a shower, unfortunately I had to turn in my track uniform and warm-up suit first. When I went back to my room I was third in line for the shower, so I had to wait for what seemed like FOREVER before I could get my shower. When I got out, it felt so nice to be clean. The staff started knocking on doors, telling us it was time to head to dinner. When we made it outside, roll call was taken once again, then we boarded the bus to dinner. When we arrived at the caffeteria, it felt good to be able to sit down for a while to eat some food, I did not know how tird I was until I was eating my dinner.

After dinner, roll call was taken once again, we got back on the bus. I thought we were going back to our rooms for the night. The bus went to the activity building for another dance. I can not dance, I decided to dance tonight, since it was my last night at this school. I danced, until my legs were so tired, that I was barely able to stand. I went to get some food, a drink, sit down and listen to the music for a while. The dance was over before I knew what had happened, the music was shut off, the coaches were telling us that we had to head back to our rooms for the night. We went back on the bus, roll call was taken once again. By the time we were back in our section of the dorm, I was getting very tired, I went to my room and went straight to bed.

Early the next morning, someone knocked on our door to tell us that we had to get up, to start getting ready to leave the dorm for breakfast. I got dressed and made my bed. The staff started knocking on doors, telling us it was time to head to breakfast. When we were on the bus roll call was taken once again, then the bus went to the caffeteria for breakfast. When we were on the bus after breakfast, roll call was taken once again, then the bus went back to the dorm. When we were in our door section, the staff told us to take the sheets off our bed, put them in the basket at the end of the hallway. We were told to pack our bags, double check our rooms to make sure we did not forget anything. I cleaned out all of my belongings from the dresser I was using for the weekend, placed them in my bag, I went to the bathroom to make sure there was nothing in there that belonged to me. The staff came to our room to make sure we did not forget anything. The staff started knocking on doors, telling us it was time to get our bags and leave this school.

We took our lugage out to the bus, the coaches made sure our names were on our bags, the bus driver loaded our bags in the bend under the bus. When we got on the bus, I got seats with my friend Jessica, roll call was taken once again, the bus finally started moving, left the school. I slept on the bus, then we talked on the way to the school for the blind. The bus stopped at a McDonald's for lunch. The bus stopped, we went inside and stood around for a while waiting to order our burgers and fries. There were so many of us that it took FOREVER to get any food. For lunch, I ordered an Extra Value meal with a Coke. Jessica and I found a table, talked for a while in the restraunt. After we were through eating, we got back on the bus, to continue traveling back to our school. When we arrived back at our school, the bus driver unloaded our bags from under the bus, the coaches sent us back to our dorms.

Track And Field Day

2007-06-29T20:32:00.000-04:00

In third thru fifth grades, during October, my friends and I, would travel to the Kentucky School For The Blind, to compete in track and field events. The night befofe we left, the dorm would be filled to capacity with both the residential and day students spending the night at school.

The dorm parent woke us up at 4:30 in the morning to tell us to start getting ready for breakfast. The dorm was so full that it took longer to get dressed and make my bed. We went to breakfast at 5:15, it was weird being the only ones in the dining room. After breakfast, we went to the gym, the teachers did a roll call to make sure everyone was there, then we were split into groups, assigned a teacher to look after us for the day. When we went out to the bus, I got seats with my friends, roll call was taken once again, the bus finally started moving, left the parking lot at school. The bus was real neat, we had reclining seats, a foot rest, a reading light over the seat, there was even a bathroom at the back of the bus. The teachers handed out blankets, I slept on the bus for the first few hours, until it started to get light outside, then I woke up to talked to my friends the rest of the way to Kentucky.

The Kentucky School For The Blind, looked completely different from my school. The buildings were not all connected by tunnels. Every building was seperate, you went to the different buildings at different times of the day. When we first arrived at the school, our assigned teacher took roll call, then lead us to the caffeteria building to have lunch. For meals at this school you took a tray, went though the food service line, our teacher showed us a table where we could eat our lunch. The cooks at my school served us our meals at our tables.

After lunch, our teacher took us to the gym building, to tell us when our events were scheduled that day. My events were the 60 yard dash, the standing long jump and the 440 yard dash. The 60 yard dash was scheduled for right after lunch. My teacher took me to the track, where I started to do some warm up stretches, I was very excited and starting to get a little nervous about the race. My name was called, my teacher told me to go on the track, someone told me which lane I would be in, told me to go to the starting line. The finish line looked very far away to me. My nerves were no longer bothering me, I was just hoping that I did good in the race. The starting pistol fired and I took off, I was not concerned about how the other runners were doing in the race, I just wanted to get to the finish line as fast as possible. When I crossed the finish line, I felt so excited and proud, I did not even care that I came in last place, I just felt good to have finished the race. My teacher congradulated me on running a good race, took me to get some water to drink. I hardly had time to rest, before it was time for me to do the Standing Long Jump. My teacher took me to the Standing Long Jump, where I stood around for a while whatching people rake the sand clean. This event was easy, I was not nervous. My name was called, my teacher told me to go to the jump area, someone told me to wait until they told me it was all right to jump. The first time I jumped, my foot steped backwards, so they measured from my back foot. The second time I jumped, my feet stayed together. I was very glad that I was able to keep my feet together. My teacher congradulated me, I got a fourth place ribbon, the ribbon was yellow and very pretty. I had some time before my last event, I walked around the field for a while, looking at all the different events and teams. My last event was the 440 yard dash. My teacher took me to the track, where I started to do some warm up stretches, I was very excited but no longer nervous about the race, I had already done one event on this track. My name was called, my teacher told me to go on the track, someone told me which lane I would be in, told me to go to the starting line. The finish line did not look very far away from me. I was just hoping that I did good in the race. The starting pistol fired and I took off, I was not concerned about how the other runners were doing in the race, I just wanted to get to the finish line as fast as possible. When I crossed the finish line, I felt so excited and proud, I did not even care that I came in fifth place, I just felt good to have finished the race. My teacher congradulated me on running a good race, took me to get some water to drink. After my last event, I walked around the field for a while, looking at all the different events and teams.

The track and field events were coming to an end. The school was once again all together. We all headed back to the bus, where roll call was taken once again, the bus finally started moving, left the parking lot of the Kentucky School For The Blind. I got seats with my friends, we showed each other are medals, shared experiences from the day, talked about how much fun the whole day had been for everyone.

We stopped at a McDonald's for supper. The bus stopped, we went inside and stood around for a while waiting to order our burgers and fries. There were so many of us that it took FOREVER to get any food. My friends and I ordered Happy Meals, we found a table to eat at, talked for a while in the restraunt. After we were through eating, we got back on the bus, to continue heading back to school. I was getting really tired by now, luckily we did not have far left to go, in order to get back to school. When the bus got back to school, it was 8 pm at night. I was so tired, I went back to the dorm, went straight to bed. This was a very fun and exciting day for me.

A Day In Elementary School

2007-06-29T20:31:00.000-04:00

The days at school were very busy, from the time that I woke up, to the time that I went to bed, I was constantly on the move, in the classroom and in the dorm at night. The dorm parent would turn on the over head lights at 6:00 am, to wake us up in the morning. I would get out of bed, put on the clothes that I had laid out the night before on my bench, brush my hair then make my bed. By 6:30, I am in the living room, watching some television, waiting for the dorm parent to say that it is time to leave for breakfast. At 6:50, she tells us that it is time to leave for the dining room. We all line up to walk to breakfast together. The dinning room is across the hall from the elementary school dorms. We walk across the hall to the dinning room, we stand around in the hall waiting for them to let us in to eat breakfast. At 7:00, they let us in the dining room, My dorm walks to our assigned dorm table for breakfast. For breakfast there is a variety of cereals to choose from, juice, toast, bacon or sausage depending on what the menu said. When you were finished eating, you had to sit at the table until everyone was through with their food. When everyone was through eating, the dorm parent said it was time to leave the dining room. We all walked back to the dorm together. By 7:30, we were back in the dorm getting ready for school. I went to my closet to get my tooth brush and tooth paste. When I got to the bathroom, I talked to my friends while I waited in line for an open sink to brush my teeth. After I brushed my teeth I went back to my closet to get my books for school. Then I went to watch some television in the living room, until the dorm parent dismissed us to school for the day.

At 7:55 we leave for school, school starts at 8:00, as we leave the dorm, I say good bye to my dorm parent. In the elementary school, the classrooms are right above the dorms. My third and fourth grade teacher was Mrs. Hughes. The first 20 minutes of the day is spent turning in homework, then discussing any problems we had with the assignments. In Social Studies we learned about all the states and the levels of government. Mrs. Vorice was my Gym teacher, the gym was at the other end of the school. In Gym we learned volley ball, roller skating as a group, interpretive dance, we ran track and field down by the cub scout house and gymnastics. After gym we went back to the classroom for Science, we built a model of the solar system, out of foam balls and tissue paper. The last subject before lunch was Math. Math was my hardest subject, all the numbers got turned around in my head, I was in the fifth grade, with the Math skills of a third grader.

Lunch was at 11:00 am, I was glad, that Lunch was after Math, so that I got a break after a hard class. You were allowed to sit wherever you wanted to during lunch, my friends and I sat at a table towards the front of the dining room. As we ate our lunch we would make plans for after school. The food at school was good usually. The school made great lasagna, pizza and turkey sandwiches. After lunch we went to recess. In the play ground outside the elementary school dorms, there was a sandbox, slide, jungle gym, merry-go-round, and swings. In the center of the play ground was a tree house. To get in to the tree house, you climbed a tall ladder, through the floor of the room above, you stepped in to a room with windows, a door leading to the balcony, and slide to get down to the ground again. The swing was my favorite thing to play on at recess, I liked the thinking that I could touch the sky, if I could just go a little higher.

After a little while, the teachers said that it was time to go back to school. Reading was the first class after lunch. Reading was my favorite subject, I was the most advanced reader in my class. While my class was working on the third grade reader, I was working down the hall with Mrs. Romanos reading class, on the fourth grade reader. After reading I went back to my class to put my books away before we left for music class. The music room was at the other end of the school, on the third floor above the gym. Mrs. Olmsted was the music teacher, we spent most of the year learning how to read sheet music, learning songs to sing at the Christmas, Spring and graduation concerts. I am not a very good singer, I am tone deaf. The last class of the day was Art. The Art room was on the first floor in the stinky maintenance area. I made a clay cup, a paper mache tambourine and a line stitch pillow. The last bell of the school day rang at 3:15, I said bye to the teacher, then returned to my dorm.

When I returned to my dorm, I checked in with the dorm parent, went to my locker to put away my school books. At 3:30, it was time to leave for recreation hour. The recreation staff put out a list that listed what activity we would be doing each day after school. Some of the activities we participated in were: name that song, you win candy if you could name the song, swim in the school pool, bowl in the school bowling alley, roller skate in the school roller rink, play board games, win candy if you win the game, watch a movie in the auditorium and some days we just played on the play ground outside the dorms.

At 4:30, we returned to the dorm to wash our hands and brush our hair for dinner. At 4:50, the dorm parent tells us that it is time to leave for the dining room. We all line up to walk to dinner together. We walk across the hall to the dinning room, we stand around in the hall waiting for them to let us in to eat dinner. At 5:00, they let us in the dining room, My dorm walks to our assigned dorm table for dinner. When you were finished eating, you had to sit at the table until everyone was through with their food. When everyone was through eating, the dorm parent said it was time to leave the dining room. We all walked back to the dorm together. By 5:30, we were back in the dorm getting ready for study hall. I went to my closet to get my tooth brush and tooth paste. When I got to the bathroom, I talked to my friends while I waited in line for an open sink to brush my teeth. After I brushed my teeth, I went down stairs to check the list to see what my dorm job was for the week. A dorm job is a house keeping type job that you do every night for a week. Dorm jobs include: emptying the bathroom and kitchen trash, wiping down the study area tables, vacuuming the living room carpet and sweeping the kitchen floor.

After my dorm job was completed, I went back to my closet to get my school books for study hall. Study hall was for an hour and started at 6:00. Twice a week, high school students came to the dorm to help us with our homework, if we had any questions on an assignment we asked them for help. When you finished your homework you went to watch the news in the living room for the rest of the hour.

After study hall we had free time for a hour, At free time I liked to sit and talk to my friends, read a book or go play Nintendo in the spare room. At 8:00, the dorm parent said that it was time to start getting ready for bed. I went to my closet to get undressed and take my shampoo and towel to the bathroom. When I went to the bathroom, I talked to my friends while I waited in line for an open shower. After my shower, I went back to my closet to get dressed, put away my shampoo and towel. As my friends were coming back from the shower, I grabbed a book from my closet, to read until lights out. As I was reading, I listened to my friends getting ready for bed. At 9:00 pm, the dorm parent came to tell us that it was time to go to bed, she turned off the over head lights and closed the door. I said good night to my friends, closed my eyes and went to sleep. As I went to sleep, I felt comforted by the routine of school life.

A Day In Middle School

2007-06-29T20:29:00.000-04:00

The days at school were very busy, from the time that I woke up, to the time that I went to bed, I was constantly on the move, in the classroom and in the dorm at night. My alarm clock would wake me up at 6:00 a.m. I would get out of bed, put on the clothes that I had laid out the night before on my bench, brush my hair then make my bed. By 6:30, I am downstairs in the living room, watching some television, waiting for the dorm parent to say that it is time to leave for breakfast. At 6:45, she tells us that it is time to leave for the dining room. We all walk to breakfast together. The dinning room is at the other end of the school, across the hall from the elementary school dorms. When we arrive at the dinning room, we stand around in the hall waiting for them to let us in to eat breakfast. At 7:00, they let us in the dining room, my dorm walks to our assigned dorm table. For breakfast there is a variety of cereals to choose from, juice, toast, bacon or sausage depending on what the menu said. When you were finished eating, you had to sit at the table until everyone was through with their food. When everyone was through eating, the dorm parent said it was time to leave the dining room. We all walked back to the dorm together. By 7:30, we were back in the dorm getting ready for school. I went to my bedroom to get my tooth brush and tooth paste. When I got to the bathroom, I talked to my friends while I waited in line for an open sink to brush my teeth. After I brushed my teeth I went back to my bedroom to get my books for school. Then I went downstairs to watch some television in the living room, until the dorm parent dismissed us to school for the day.

At 7:55 we leave for school, school starts at 8:00, as we leave the dorm, I say good bye to my dorm parent and friends. At my school you only have five minutes between classes, you practically have to sprint to the next class. The first 20 minutes of the day is spent in homeroom. My homeroom is at the other end of the school, in the elementary school. Mrs. Romono was my homeroom teacher. She monitors the progress in our other classes and helps us if we did not understand an assignment. Mr. Becker was my Social Studies teacher, his classroom was on the third floor in the high school. In Social Studies we learned about all the states and world geography. Mrs. Vorice was my Gym teacher, the gym was at the other end of the school. My class rotated between four weeks of gym and four weeks of Health class. In Gym we learned volley ball, roller skating as a group, interpretive dance, we ran track and field down by the cub scout house and gymnastics. In Health we learned about the circulatory system and the brain. Mrs. Romono was also my Science teacher. In class we studied weights, grams, kilograms and liters. We also studied measurements, millimeters, centimeters and yards. Mrs. Hughes was my Math teacher, the Math classroom was right above the Science classroom, in the elementary school. Math was my hardest subject, all the numbers got turned around in my head, I was in the seventh grade, with the Math skills of a fifth grader.

Lunch was at 11:00, I was glad, that lunch was after Math, so that I got a break after a hard class. You were allowed to sit wherever you wanted to during lunch, my friends and I sat at a table towards the front of the dining room. As we ate our lunch, we would make plans for after school and talk about our morning classes. The food at school was good usually. The school made great lasagna, pizza and turkey sandwiches. After lunch, the teachers told us we could go talk to our friends in the boys quad courtyard. This was really boring, just standing around talking with nothing else to do for fun.

The bell rang, telling us that it was time to go back to school. English was the first class after lunch. The English classroom was right next to my Math classroom, in the elementary school. Mrs. Harper was the English teacher, we read and did reports on the Mark Twain books, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. In the fifth grade you are given the choice to study either piano or band. The piano room was at the other end of the school, on the second floor above the gym. Mrs. Francisco was the piano teacher. I played Jingle Bells at the Christmas concert and Swan Lake at the spring concert. The choir room was above the piano room on the third floor. Mrs. Olmsted was the music teacher, we spent most of the year learning songs to sing at the Christmas, Spring and graduation concerts. I am not a very good singer, I am tone deaf. The last bell of the school day rang at 3:15, I said bye to the teacher, then returned to my dorm.

When I returned to my dorm, I checked in with the dorm parent, went upstairs to my bedroom to put away my school books. I went back downstairs to tell my dorm parent that I was leaving for practice. In the fall, I had track practice, in the winter, I had cheer leading practice after school. The gym was right down the hall from my dorm, I went to the gym for track practice. At the gym attendance was taken then we paired up to jog down to the track and field area. I was a very slow runner, I usually fell behind the other runners and went at my own pace. When we arrived at the track, the team manager lead us in warm up stretches then the entire team ran a mile. When you were through running the mile, the coaches divided us up in to groups to work on our individual events. My events were the 440 race, the 60 yard dash and the standing long jump. The 440, is where you have to run up the straight track six times in a row. The 60 yard dash, is where you sprint down the straight track, to the finish line. The standing long jump, is when you jump into a pile of sand, the judges measure how far you have jumped. At the end of practice the team managers lead us in cool down stretches, then we jog up the hill to dinner. Dinner is at 5:00 The track team walks to our team table to eat dinner together. When I was finished eating, I went back to my dorm table, to wait for my dorm, to leave the dinning room.

We all walked back to the dorm together. If the whether was nice, the dorm parent would let us walk outside, to go back to the dorm. By 5:30, we were back in the dorm getting ready for study hall. I went to my bedroom to get my tooth brush and tooth paste. When I got to the bathroom, I talked to my friends while I waited in line for an open sink to brush my teeth. After I brushed my teeth, I went down stairs to check the list to see what my dorm job was for the week. A dorm job is a house keeping type job that you do every night for a week. Dorm jobs include: emptying the bathroom and kitchen trash, wiping down the study area tables, vacuuming the living room carpet, sweeping and moping the kitchen floor.

After my dorm job was completed, I went back to my bedroom, to get my school books for study hall. Study hall was for an hour and started at 6:00. If you made the A or B honor roll, you were awarded the privilege of studying independently, upstairs in your bedroom, otherwise you had to study in the downstairs study area. If you had a D or F on your report card, you went to another dorm for a two hour study hall, the teachers there helped you get caught up on your school work. When you finished your homework you went to watch the news in the living room for the rest of the hour.

After study hall was over, I went upstairs, to take my school books back to my bedroom. Recreation time starts at 7:00, when I came back downstairs it was time to leave for recreation time. I told my dorm parent which activity I would be doing that evening, then left the dorm. The recreation staff put out a list that listed what activities we would be doing each evening after study hall. Some of the activities we participated in were: swim in the school pool, bowl in the school bowling alley, roller skate in the school roller rink, play board games, win candy if you won the game, watch a movie in the auditorium and some days we chose our own activity in the gym. On Monday and Wednesday evenings, you could go to the student center, to buy candy, play pool or video games and listen to music on the juke box.

At 9:00, I had to be back at the dorm, to start getting ready for bed. I checked in with my dorm parent, went to my bedroom to get undressed and take my shampoo and towel to the bathroom. When I went to the bathroom, I talked to my friends while I waited in line for an open shower. After my shower, I went back to my bedroom to get dressed, put away my shampoo and towel. As my roommate was coming back from the shower, I grabbed a book from my closet, to read until lights out. As I was reading, I listened to my roommate getting ready for bed. At 9:30 pm, it was time to turn the bedroom light off. I said good night to my roommate, closed my eyes and went to sleep. As I went to sleep, I felt comforted by the routine of school life.

Dorms

2007-06-29T20:28:00.000-04:00

While at school, I stayed in a variety of different dorms. All of the girls in my dorm were around my age. Now I will try to give an accurate description of each dorm.

When I began school at age four, I was in Alder Hall dorm 3/4. As you entered the dorm, you were in a living room, with a television, couches, chairs, and tables. To the left was a short hallway full of toys. At the beginning of the hallway was a sleeping room with five little beds, closets, chairs, an identical room was at the end of the hallway. The bathroom was across the hall from the sleeping room, the bathroom had three sinks, three toilets, two shower stalls and a large bathtub next to the showers. This was dorm 3/4 in Alder Hall.

At the age of five, I moved to Lambert Hall dorm 3. As you entered the dorm, you were in a living room with a television, couches, chairs, and tables and a pantry full of snacks. As you left the living room you entered a long hallway with a storage room, house parent office, and an extra bed room on the left side of the hallway. A large bathroom was on the right side of the hallway, the bathroom had three sinks, three toilets, two shower stalls and a large bathtub next to the showersThe end of the hallway was a large sleeping area that partitioned beds into sections of three each, for a total of sixteen beds, closets, and chairs, clothes drawers were attached to the end of each bed. The residential students slept in the front of the room, day students slept in the back of the room. This was dorm 3 in Lambert Hall.

At the age of eight, I moved to Wilson Hall dorm 4. As you entered the dorm, you were in a hallway with a television room on the right, a storage room and laundry room on the left. Then you entered a living room with a television, couches, a house parents office, and doors leading out to a screened in patio. Behind the living room was a kitchen with tables and chairs for doing homework, a pantry for students to store their snacks, and a stove for cooking Sunday dinners in the dorm. Their were two sleeping rooms off the kitchen with eight beds, benches and a row of lockers. One sleeping room was for residential students the other was for day students. The bathroom had three sinks, three toilets, four shower stalls and a bathtub next to the showers. This was dorm 4 in Wilson Hall.

At the age of eleven, I moved to Girls Quad dorm J. The dormitory was a large three story brick building that looked like an apartment building from the outside. The first floor of the dorm was storage and laundry rooms. As you went up the stairs to the second floor, you saw a large room with doors leading off to smaller rooms. If you turned to the left, you saw a kitchen, bathroom, activity room that had in it a piano, Nintendo, ping pong table, television, tables, and chairs. If you turned to your right, you saw a bedroom, lounge with couches, and a television, and a house parents office. The third floor had a bathroom and eight bedrooms. In each room there were two beds, dressers, closets, and study tables. At the start of each school year the house parent assigned each girl a room and roommate. My roommate Christina was bossy, always telling me what to do, lucky for me I got to switch roommates part way through the year and roomed with my friend Jessica the rest of the year. The bathroom had three sinks, three toilets, four shower stalls and a bathtub next to the showers. This was Girls Quad dorm J.

Dorm Guide

2007-06-29T20:27:00.000-04:00

ALDER HALL
Boys dorm 1/2 preschool ages 3,4
Girls dorm 3/4 preschool ages 3,4

LAMBERT HALL
Boys Dorm 2 kindergarten age 5
Girls Dorm 1 kindergarten age 5
Boys Dorm 4 1st, 2nd grades ages 6,7
Girls Dorm 3 1st, 2nd grades ages 6,7

WILSON HALL
Boys Dorm 1 3rd grade age 8
Girls Dorm 3 3rd grade age 8
Boys Dorm 2 4th, 5th grades ages 9, 10
Girls Dorm 4 4th, 5th grades ages 9, 10

BOYS QUAD
Dorm B 6th, 7th grades ages 11, 12
Dorm C 8th, 9th, 10th grades ages 13, 14, 15
Dorm A 11th, 12th grades ages 16, 17
Independent Living house 12th grade age 17

GIRLS QUAD
Dorm J 6th, 7th grades ages 11, 12
Dorm H 8th, 9th, 10th grades ages 13, 14, 15
Dorm I 11th, 12th grades ages 16, 17
Independent Living house 12th grade age 17.

Dorm Parents

2007-06-29T20:25:00.000-04:00

My dorm parent's were like second moms, they would do anything for me. I could talk to them about things that I did not feel comfortable telling my friends. My favorite dorm parents were Mrs. Alice and Mrs. Lacy.

In Lambert Hall, my dorm parent was Mrs. Alice. She taught us a variety of games to play after school. Red light/Green light is when you walk if they say Green light and stop if they say Red light. The object of the game is to reach the front of the room first. You were eliminated if you did not stop walking. Simon Says was fun to play with friends. You have to do whatever the leader tells you to do. Another activity was to play house in the Play house in the activity room, cook on the stove and talk out the window to my friends. Roller skating down the hallway, was real fun. After shower time, she would do our hair in braids and curls. She always gave us healthy treats after school and on special occasions we got candy bars for a snack.

In Wilson Hall, the dorm parents were nice and friendly. I just never felt the close connection to them that I had with the other dorm parents. They did not have the personality, where I felt that I could open up to them and tell them personal things. They did not interact very well with the girls in the dorm. They mainly stayed in the dorm parents office doing paper work and only came out if there was a problem in the dorm.

Mrs. Lacy, was my dorm J dorm parent. She was very laid back, real easy to get to know. We switched bedrooms halfway through the school year. We went unsupervised to the different activities at recreation time. All you had to do was check in with her after school, then you could go to your afternoon activities or hang out with friends in the dorm.

Friends

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The girls in my dorm were family. Jessica was my best friend at school. She was like a ray of sunshine, always smiling. Her hair was the prettiest dstk red, with thick curls, that bounced when she walked. Jenny left the school in the second grade. Her parents, were unable to adjust to not having there daughter at home, so they took there daughter out of the blind school, put her in the local public school, where I hear she did quite well, with support from her family and the local school. Nicole had the straightest blonde hair, I have ever seen. She was like a butterfly, always changing her hair and makeup. She spent time every morning fixing her hair and make up, making sure it was just right, before we went to breakfast. Nicole's best friend was Elizabeth. Elizabeth, was a day girl, Nicole and Liz wore there hair the exact same way, hung out all the time together, when she stayed the night at school. Lisa had the prettiest smile. She was like an old teddy bear, you could pour your heart out to her, she wouldn't say a word. Lisa and Stephanie were best friends, they were together all the time. Stephanie had long brown hair and brown eyes, her hair was almost as long as mine. Laura was very artistic. She did all of the signs for the sixth grade play. Laura and I had physical therapy together twice a week in the gym. Chasity had a beautiful southern accent, she was a transfer student from the Kentucky School For The Blind. We first met on track and field day in the fourth grade. Sara was like a baby. She was always asking everyone for help with making her bed and getting dressed in the morning, would wine and complain to get out of doing her homework. She was very clingy, she did not want to be left alone for a minute by herself. She wanted assistance with every simple and little task in the dorm.

First Day of School

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On the morning that I returned to school for the start of the new school year, my mom would go down the checklist provided by the school to make sure that I had all of the toiletries that I would need at school. I had really long hair, shampoo and conditioner were the items that my mom replaced the most for me. Then she made sure that all of my clothes were washed for the week at school. Now that my mom had all of my toiletries and clothes together and organized, the next step was for her to start packing my suitcase for school. While my mom was packing my suitcase, I was finding my stuffed animal and favorite soft blanket to take to school with me. The blanket and stuffed animal were a reminder of home for me at school. After my suitcase was packed, I placed everything by the door in a pile until it was time to leave for school. The remainder of the time was spent playing games with my sisters. In the afternoon, when my mom said it was time to leave for school, I would say good bye to my sisters, my mom would put my suitcase in the car, then we would pull out of the driveway to start the hour and a half drive to school.

When we arrived at school, my mom would park the car in front of the administration building, when we went inside I would have to wait in a long line to make sure I was in the correct grade and dorm. Then we would get back in the car and drive to my dorm. My mom would meet my dorm parent. I would be shown which bed and closet were mine, my mom would help me unpack my suitcase, put my things away in my closet and make my bed for me. We would say good bye in the entry way to the dorm, then she would leave the school to go back home.

I never really had a chance to be sad when my mom left, there was to much for me to do in the dorm, I immediately found my friends to haar stories of there summer. After all of the parents had left, our dorm parent made us dinner. After dinner, we continued to tell each other about our summer vacation, until it was time to go to the back to school dance. The dorm parent would take us to the gym for the dance, the music was so loud that you could hear it as soon as you left the dorm. The center of the gym was the dance floor. Tables and chairs were placed around the edge of the gym, if you wanted to talk or for when you got tired of dancing. A corner of the room had tables piled full of snack foods, cookies, chips, pops and candy bars. I danced most of the time we were there, I only stopped when I went to get a candy bar and drink of punch from the snack table. The music was so loud that you could not talk to the person next to you without shouting at them. I was sad when we had to head back to our dorms. My legs were so wobly and tired, that I could hardly walk. When I got back to the dorm, I took a shower and went straight to bed. I felt good to be back at school with all of my friends.

The School

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My name is Raeann, I am visually impaired. I attended the Indiana School for the Blind, a day and residential school, for blind and visually impaired children, ages three to nineteen years old, in Indianapolis, Indiana.

When I was four years old, I began attending the school. The local public school, lacked the facilities for me to attend there school, they did not have the adaptive technology that I needed to succeed in the classroom, an aide or a vision teacher, so my parents enrolled me in the blind school. The school considered me a residential student, during the week I stayed at school. A bus would take me to school on Sunday and not bring me home until Friday. My dormitory had eight other girls. Weekends, Christmas, spring, and summer vacations, were the only times I went home. The school was like my home away from home, the people in my dorm were like my family. On the weekends I had a nice visit with my family. Summer vacation was like a breathe of fresh air, three whole months with my family at home. The only time I remember going home during the week is when I was seven years old. My dad was taking classes, he would pick me up after school, take me home over night, bring me back early the next morning. Being able to go home during the week to see my family was like a rainbow. It only lasted a few weeks before it had to end, I was so tired at school that I started falling a sleep in class.

My school was a 5 day boarding school, where the whole school closed on the weekends and everyone went home. My family lived an hour and a half from the school. My best friends Jessica and Lisa, lived at the other end of the state, had to ride the bus for five hours twice a week, just to attend school.

Links

2007-06-12T19:32:00.000-04:00