BU sorority hosts egg hunt for ISBVI students
Tuesday, March 25, 2008, 19:05 EST
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When Hinkle celebrated its 80th birthday on March 7, its fans were as true and diverse as ever. The crowds, the athletes and even famed speakers and royalty have spent many a game in the fieldhouse on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
In its entire splendor, though, the gray hairs are beginning to show. In the next year, Butler will spend approximately $750,000 on renovations. A controversial reaction is often the initial response to much of our history’s art that later becomes iconic, Michael Kammen said at the Leadership through the Arts Forum at Butler University’s Eidson-Duckwall Recital Hall Thursday night. The SGA assembly approved a $1,000 grant to the men’s a capella group Out Of The Dawg House on Wednesday. That money will go toward the production of their new CD, which will be available at their spring concert scheduled for April 26 in the Atherton Union Reilly Room. A small group of students explored their interests and possible careers at the “What Should I Do with My Life” workshop on March 19 in Jordan Hall. The workshop, consisting of students from all grade levels, was led by Butler career exploration adviser Kathy Matthies. P.A.W.S. (Peers Advocating Wellness for Students) hosted “Everything you Didn’t Learn in High School” on March 18. About 30 students gathered together to ask and answer Butler students’ most frequently asked questions about sex education. “Who in this room thinks getting a job is about who you know?” asked Vernon Cheek, the assistant director of public relations for the Indianapolis Colts.
Naturally everyone in the room raised their hands, nodding in agreement. “You’re wrong,” Cheek said. Everyone looked around confused… “It’s about who knows you.”
Cheek, along with four other panelists, gave advice and answered questions for a room full of students at the Learning Resource Center’s “Careers in Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations” discussion.
The women of Delta Gamma hunted eggs and worked on crafts with 30 of the children from the school and later dined on corn dogs, macaroni and cheese and cupcakes. Ashlee Ward, Delta Gamma’s vice president of foundation, was in charge of organizing the day.
“ I think the Easter party went very well,” Ward said. “The students love coming over to the house. They were full of questions and they didn’t want to leave!”
Sue Smith, who has been an aide at the blind school for 18 years, said the kids were very excited about the party.
“This is wonderful. I just can’t get over it!” Smith said as she watched the children discover candy and color pictures.
“This is the first time I’ve been at Delta Gamma, and I’m just as excited about it as the kids are,” she said laughing.
Smith said she’s always loved working with children, but she really became interested in working at the ISBVI after witnessing many of her family members deal with a condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). The inherited disease causes the retina of the eye to gradually degenerate, which eventually leads to blindness.
“RP runs in my family on my father’s side, and all of his brothers and sisters went blind at a very early age,” she said.
The ISBVI is there for people dealing with RP and any other condition that affects sight. The school, established in 1847, offers pre-school through high school programs to approximately 180 students who are blind and visually impaired.
Rob Strauss, the ISBVI athletic director, helps to organize recreational activities both on and off campus for the school. Strauss said the students can do anything that other kids do, like hunt for eggs, as the staff helps to adapt to their needs.
“We go to movies and people ask, ‘Why are they watching a movie if they can’t see it?’” Strauss said. “But the kids really enjoy movies -- they can hear everything. They’ll ask what’s happening on the screen, and we’ll tell them.”
Strauss said he and other staff members recently took the kids to the Bounce Zone in Noblesville, Ind. for a field trip.
“They felt their way through the mazes and went down the slides and they had a really good time,” he said.
Strauss said those at the ISBVI also play bingo games with Braille and enjoy ice cream socials, roller-skating, bowling and swimming. While some of the children stay at the school all week long, others go home and come back every night (depending on how far away they live), with transportation provided by the school districts.
One of the students who stays all week and goes home on the weekends is 10-year-old Logan Anderson of Franklin, Ind. Anderson has been going to the blind school for seven years, and she said she loves it there.
“I really like the size of the classes because there are only about five or six kids in a room,” she said.
Anderson said her favorite subject is reading, and her favorite activity is swimming; however, she enjoys doing everything with her classmates. She said she was especially enjoying the Easter party.
“My favorite thing today was hunting for the eggs,” she said smiling, “and I really like sitting and talking with everyone.”
Ward said she had just as much fun at the Easter party.
“I love working with children from the blind school because they are so inspiring to me,” she said. “Their optimism and genuine care for others always makes me stop and appreciate what I have.
"I feel like I learn something new every time I’m with the ISBVI students, and they are all so intelligent."
Ward said that she thinks it’s important that the students know there are young adults on Butler’s campus who care about them and want to spend time with them.
“All of the women in Delta Gamma show a great deal of interest in the students,” she said. “I believe we have a positive impact in their lives, as they do on ours.”