For those that need a reminder, Club STRIVE is for blind and visually impaired youth currently in 7-12th grade. Club STRIVE meets the 2nd Saturday of the month from 10am-4pm. Technology, Cooking, Active Daily Living Skills, Social, Teen Talk, Braille, Recreation is lead by hip, blind adult mentors who have, "been there done that". Who can deny how "hip" Kirt is in his winter outfit! 
November the theme of Club STRIVE was: "Beliefs About Blindness". Participants started the day by meeting at DSBVI where Adam lead them in an introduction to downloading books from BARD. BARD=Braille & Audio Reading Download. Barbie lead a discussion on important skills to practice before interviewing for a job. Everyone caught the bus at DSBVI, made a transfer in downtown Salt Lake and then headed North toward Bountiful.
After lunch at Arctic Circle, the crew made the short walk to visit Becky Andrews, the owner and therapist at Resilient Solutions, Inc. Becky has been married for 26 years, and has 2 adult children. She shared and answered questions about how her experiences working as a blind adult and what has attributed to her success. You can learn more about Becky by visiting her blog at: www.cruisinwithcricket.blogspot.com
Lise Thornton ended the day, leading a discussion about how Photography. Lise has done extensive research on the success of blind photographers and was interested in leading a photography class with interested students. Lise is currently a graduate student at the University of Utah and her brother Chad is a longtime member of the NFB of Utah.
December's theme was: "Success". The day started with a fun "white elephant" gift to exchange. Some of the members learned that a white elephant exchange, has nothing to do with an elephant. A lot of laughs and a bit of competition for the most coveted gifts. (I leave that up to your imagination)
Adam and Kirt continued instruction on downloading books, and some members received a thumb drive to practice at home. Cooking without Looking results... "White Chili Soup". Onion cutting, de-skinning chicken, can opening, spice & liquid measuring, and of course.. cleaning were all included in ADL instruction given by Barbie & Tara.
During lunch, a panel of successful blind adults came and talked with the students about their personal stories. Macy Lewis spoke about the success she is having as University of Utah student. Karl Smith shared life experiences that have lead him to owning a successful technology business. Kris Cox, director of Workforce Services challenged students to be literate and employable.
After lunch, everyone took a bus downtown, and the day ended with iceskating at the Gallivan Center. The combiniation of using the transit system and iceskating was a great Orientation Mobility experience! The first timers were very successful and our pros offered a helping hand if needed.
