Last school year, MDE-LIO created a Student Advisory Board. This group provides an opportunity for high school students entering grades 9-12 who are Blind/Visually Impaired (BVI) or Deaf/Hard of Hearing (DHH) to share their perspectives, experiences, and feedback on programming. We want to engage students in the services MDE-LIO provides and create a unique leadership and learning opportunity.
During the first year, three students who are DHH and five students who are BVI participated in virtual meetings. Discussion topics included leadership skills, events they would be interested in attending, and ways to share their perspectives with school personnel. The group also highlighted topics that were important to them, such as wanting others to have a stronger understanding about the importance of closed captioning and audio description. They also learned a lot from each other, including how to not make assumptions about the way someone communicates or interacts with the world based only on their identity as a student who is BVI or DHH.
This school year, we are welcoming additional students to the board. The group will meet online every other month, and we hope to have at least one in-person event. Adding more students to the board allows us to continue the work that has been started and expand the impact these students can have on other students at the state level.
If you have any ideas or projects for the Student Advisory Board to consider this year, please contact board advisors Dr. Amanda English at [email protected] or Amanda Schneider at [email protected].
2024-2025 MDE-LIO Student Advisory Board members are listed below.
First-Year Board Members
- Dequan
- Brooke
- Savanah
- Zane
- Colton
- Rufaydeh
- Chloe-Jade
- Max
Second-Year Board Members
- Jacob
- Genavieve
- Kara
- Dawson
- Riley
- Neveah