Newswise — Blind high schoolers from across the country this week will build an environmentally friendly model home, launch weather balloons or create robots. And some will even drive a car!

The University of Maryland is hosting nearly 200 blind or low-vision high school students to try their hand at careers never thought possible for them: engineering, architecture, robotics and science. The National Federation of the Blind is holding its biennial Youth Slam here at the suggestion of Leigh Abts, a research associate professor in the College of Education with a longtime interest in opening science, technology, engineering and math fields to people with visual impairments.

"We've done some research and found that a lot of blind high school students go into college with a notion of what they are going to major in, but it's not usually their choice," said Karen Zakhnini, education project manager with the federation's Jernigan Institute. A lot of times and their teachers or their guidance counselors or their parents have told them, "This would be good for you because you can actually do this."

She said this program helps young people understand what they can do and decide if it's what they want to do. As part of the weeklong event, college students and working professionals serve as living examples.

Nathan Redman, a rising high school senior from Nebraska, didn't know what to expect. In the universal language of teenagers, though, he sums up what many of them feel on the first day: "It's going to be awesome."

On Monday, he and his peers flicked their canes open to navigate an unfamiliar, large campus to attend different sessions based on their interests. Nathan worked on designs for a green model home using wood blocks, flexible wax tubes and paper with raised grids.

Lucene Behsirian, a high school junior from Los Angeles, helped a fellow camper with an engineering project to test insulation materials for the home.

"I think it's amazing. They make activities that people said are impossible to do, yet we're doing it," she said.

Later in the week, the students will show results of their work: the model home, a Lego Mindstorms robot that moves along a pre-determined track, a chatbox to talk with friends online and more. Among other nonacademic activities, the teens on Thursday night will try rock climbing, bungee jumping and tug of war. On Friday morning, a few will get behind the wheel of a custom-built dirt buggy that operates on voice commands.

The week will culminate in a rally at the Lincoln Memorial and a march on the National Mall.

One of the mentors, architect Chris Downey of San Francisco, said this event has re-energized his commitment to his 20-year career. After losing his sight just over a year ago, he's had to rethink how to design when you can't see.

"It's more exciting now than ever," said Downey, who animatedly showed students how to translate their ideas into floor plans.

Jessica Stenzel is one of two Maryland architecture undergraduates, and a graduate student, helping with the instruction in Nathan's group. She said thinking of how to teach a visually based field in a tactile way is exciting.

Abts, who along with his colleagues is working on a tactile tablet that changes texture as the computer's command, will host a focus group this week with some of the mentors at the federation's headquarters to gather feedback.

MEDIA CONTACT
Register for reporter access to contact details