Tech Abilities: High Tech Vocations for Young Women with Disabilities
Executive Summary
GOALS SWE Tech Abilities was a joint program of Space Coast SWE with the Space Coast Center for Independent Living, planned to reach 20 young women with physical, sensory and learning disabilities in grades 9 through 12 and 2-year colleges. Its goals were to give these young women:
A. Early exposure to careers in technology, engineering, science,
B. Opportunities to explore realistic vocational fields,
C. Interaction with women and minorities in engineering/technology.
.
ACTIVITIES SWE Tech Abilities enabled young women with disabilities to:
A. Investigate possible high tech careers through SWE and minority role models,
B. Develop personal career interest profiles,
C. Make field trips to become familiar with post-secondary education,
D. Visit high tech facilities with SWE and other mentors to learn about what women and persons with disabilities are actually doing on their jobs,
BENEFITS TO PARTICIPANTS SWE Tech Abilities program has benefited these young women with knowledge they can use for future careers through:
B. Planning for and obtaining appropriate education,
C. Being mentored by SWE and other engineer/scientist role models, with and without disabilities,
D. Building self esteem as they achieve their goals,
E. Becoming independent self-sufficient citizens.
:
BENEFITS TO COMMUNITY SWE Tech Abilities has benefited faculty, students and administrations of local school district and institutions of higher learning, employers, professional and community organizations through:
A. Expanded awareness of contributions possible from women with disabilities,
B. Knowledge of usual minimal accommodations to make the workplace accessible,
C. Positive changes in and contributions to social, economic, academic, industrial communities by women, especially those with disabilities.
BENEFITS TO SWE SWE Tech Abilities will benefit SWE through:
A. Opportunities to reach a unique frequently underserved minority that is seldom targeted for preparation for high tech employment,
B. Increased visibility of SWE and SWE programs to the community and to persons with disabilities,
C. Actions to increase the pool of persons in the US trained to carry out science and engineering tasks,
D. Effective visibility of SWE to school counselors.
NOTE A section considering carrying out this project in the future should have or develop significant partnerships with organizations, facilities and persons competently and currently working with students with disabilities. These partnerships are most effective with organizations other than schools because of greater flexibility in operations.
SUCCESSES ACHIEVED
Six young women participated in most of the activities; another ten girls were reached directly through the project, and about twenty to thirty other girls and boys were reached indirectly with project information. In addition, a number of school guidance and exceptional education counselors learned about the project and its opportunities through information distributed. .All senior girls who participated in the two years of the project have gone on to college to study SMET. Each student who evaluated this program indicated that it provided positive and valuable opportunities not otherwise available to her.
FINAL REPORT PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT GRANT DR57
TECH ABILITIES: HIGH TECH
VOCATIONS FOR YOUNG WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES
SPACE COAST SECTION D-13
ITEM 2. Narrative Description, including program goals, schedule, program conduct and content
(PIP 10.2.1 and 10.2.2)
OBJECTIVES The objectives of SWE Tech-Abilities are to provide young women with physical, sensory or learning disabilities:
• Early exposure to careers in technology, such as engineering and science,
• Opportunities to explore realistic vocational fields,
• Interaction with women and minorities in engineering and technology.
These objectives were never modified but the means of accomplishing them evolved to better serve our intended audience.
NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT Space Coast SWE (SC SWE) and the Space Coast Center for Independent Living (SCCIL) worked together to successfully carry out the project:
Some of the activities proposed for SWE Tech Abilities included:
• Preparation of program materials,
• Seminars/discussions with SWE role models about careers,
• Career interest and ability matching,
• Information preparation and dissemination about career preparations,
• Field trips to area post-secondary schools,..
• Field trips to work sites of SWE members and others,
• Hands-on lab experiences mentored by SWE members during 3-day lab workshop at Fl Tech,
• Continued mentoring of students entering high tech careers by SWE members,
• Follow-up activities to monitor effectiveness of program,
• Preparation of institutionalized program materials for use by others.
Space Coast Center for Independent Living in one of the Centers for Independent Living which are federally mandated in all states to use federal and state funds to provide services, resources, peer counseling and independent living skills to persons with disabilities of all ages and all disabilities. The centers, in addition, must seek other grants t o support services not fully federally or state funded. To locate the Center nearest your location, consult human services offices in your county or the state Independent Living Council.
Space Coast CIL has in its service area individuals who have all levels of disabilities, including approximately 8000 youth with disabilities presently enrolled in local schools. Many are young women who also have the capabilities to enter future vocations involving high tech jobs. They must be informed of and prepared for these careers in their early years for successful transition to appropriate education.
Through their participation in this High Tech Vocations program, these young women obtained knowledge they can use toward future successful employment by:
• Envisioning high tech career goals,
• Planning and obtaining appropriate education,
• Being mentored by SWE and other engineers/scientists,
• Building esteem as they achieve goals,
• Becoming independent self-sufficient productive citizens.
DESCRIPTION
OF PROJECT ACTIVITIES WITH PARTICIPANTS
Some general
comments about the entire project.
Because the funds were released much later than we anticipated, the
activities began in February 1999 during the second school semester. By that time, many of the students were
involved in other activities that hindered their participation in SWE Tech Abilities
even though they had great desire.
Students took part in various activities, no one being able to take part
in every activity. Descriptions are
given below of events planned and carried out as well as those modified or
cancelled with reasons for the actions.
Space Coast
Center for Independent Living (SCCIL)
has been actively working with the SWE Project Manager in planning and carrying
out the activities. It has worked with this
project in every way, over and above our planned expectations. Most of the
student participants have been or plan to be involved in the federally funded
High School/High Tech program carried out by the SCCIL for both boys and girls. SWE Tech Abilities provided opportunities
not possible under that program.
These are the
activities planned and/or carried out by the SCCIL and SWE Projects Managers.
#1--16 March,
Tuesday, 1999--Commitment Meeting with parents, Brevard Community College,
Cocoa Campus. The SWE Project Manager
and the SCCIL Project Manager, Ms. Donna Mundy, described SWE Tech Abilities
program, handed out career information from SWE and other sources. Then Space Coast Section Member Vivian Dear
talked about her career track which has included a large and interesting
variety. Currently she is responsible for range safety at the USAF Cape
Canaveral launch site. She was a
principal investigator on several recent
anomalies. Attending: SWE speaker, 5
students, 4 parents, SCCIL Director, accessible van driver who served as
personal assistant to the students when required.
#2-- 29 March,
Saturday, 1999--Solar Celebration at Florida Solar Energy Center, Cocoa. Space Coast SWE member Charlotte Ort talked
informally with the girls about her work on the Space Shuttle and International
Space Station. Students, assisted by
Fl Tech SWE students, watched races of solar-powered cars, surveyed and
participated in many exhibits of solar energy use and attended demonstrations
on electricity. Attending: SWE speaker, 3 students, 2 Fl Tech Students,
1 parent, van driver/PA, high school girl mentee of SWE Project Manager; lunch
provided by DR057
#3--.April,
Wednesday, 1999--Kennedy Space Center.
The Astronaut Memorial Foundation and the NASA Education Office provided
hands-on experiences at Exploration Station. The presenter discussed various
aspects of space flight and demonstrated with the students' participation
equipment used in space flight. Members
of Space Coast Section working at KSC were invited to a browm bag lunch with
the students. Two SC members and
another wheelchair user employed in finance/data met with the students and
discussed their jobs and career preparations.
After lunch a special tour was taken of the International Space Station
and the Saturn V center. This activity
lasted from 9am to 4 pm.
Attending: 3 students, 2 S/C
members, guest, van driver/PA, high school girl mentee. Lunch provided by DR057.
#4--17 April,
Saturday, 1999. Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne. With the assistance of mentors from Fl Tech
SWE Student members and an experienced model rocket constructor, the girls
constructed model rockets. Since the
weather had turned into heavy pouring rain, it was not possible to fire the
rockets as planned that day. Dr. Maria
Pozo de Fernandez, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, brought the
girls to her laboratory and had them participate in several experiments on
water treatment and reverse osmosis.
She had every girl taking part in the activities, even those with
severe impairments. Lunch and mentoring
were shared by all. Attending: Dr.
Fernandez, 3 students, 3 FL Tech SWE, 1 parent, van driver/PA, 2
rocket-building assistants, 1 SC SWE member, SCCIL Executive Director; lunch
provided by DR057.
#5--28 April,
Wednesday, 1999--Space Congress, Cocoa Beach, FL. Space Congress is annually one of the world's premier conferences
on space. Our project students met
with nearly 100 students with disabilities from Georgia visiting Kennedy Space
Center and Space Congress for a pizza party dinner and then proceeded to the
evening session "Meet the Astronauts," an event open to the
public. In this, astronauts talk about
their space flights and then answer questions from the audience. Prizes were also presented to students who
had taken part in the Space Congress Science Fair. Students who were wheelchair users were seated down front and
joined many other students talking one-on-one with the astronauts. This session lasted from 7:30 till past
9:30 pm. Attending: 3 students, van driver/PA.
#6--12 June,
Saturday 1999--Brevard Veterans Council Parking Lot, Merritt Island, FL. Students who constructed model rockets will
review safety rules for launches and then fire their rockets. All students in
program, parents and members of Space Coast SWE are invited. CANCELLED #6 &
#7--Severe weather advisories over several days prohibited any outdoor
activities in the county; unable to reschedule because school was over for summer
vacation.
#7--12 June,
Saturday, 1999--Picadilly Cafeteria at Merritt Square Mall, end of year dinner
and evaluation. Each student who
attended at least 2 of the program activities will earn a free dinner by
submitting one written page on "How my career ideas have been influenced
by SWE Tech-Abilities." She will also make a one-minute oral report after
dinner. One parent of each student
will also earn a free dinner by submitting one written page on "How SWE
Tech-Abilities has helped my daughter become more aware of and prepare for
opportunities in science and engineering careers. " Other family members and SWE are welcome and
are expected to cover their meal costs. Cancelled.
During August 1999, a new Project Coordinator was appointed by Space Center for Independent Living--Cheryl Bartoszek. She has been working actively on the program.
Space Coast SWE endorsed a request for this project to be extended through the end of April 2000 and this request was forwarded prior to the 30 September deadline to SWE HQ for approval. Since no notice of disapproval has been received, we have continued with the project on this time line.
#8--September 2000--The SWE and SCCIL project managers met and set up a tentative schedule of events for the 1999-2000 school year. Invitations and applications were sent out to schools and other groups serving persons with disabilities. The original date set for the initial meeting with the students had to be changed because of multiple conflicts for students. Two of the final activities have had to be scheduled in May because of end-of-year school activities. Space Congress is being held this year in May instead of in April as usual. Graduation and final exams made it impossible to have the closing dinner before school ends on 23 May. We hope that this project can accommodate this inclusion of May dates. Students may participate in an unexpected opportunity at Florida Institute of Technology for Engineers' Week and the 26 February visit to Space Coast SWE work stations at Kennedy Space Center may need to be included in the March 29 visit there. (Conflicts kept SWE Tech Abilities students from taking part in either.)
#9--23 October 1999, SCCIL Titusville office--SWE & SCCIL project coordinators met with students and prepared a schedule of events for the year. Attendees: 2 students, 1 parent, van driver/PA.
#10--29 October 1999--University of Central Florida College
of Engineering, Orlando. Two students who are wheelchair users met with the
Dean of Engineering, the Minority Program Coordinator for Engineering, nearly
20 members of the UCF SWE Student Section and 2 members of the Central Florida
SWE Section. The lively discussions
covered not only such topics as what to take in high school but also campus
life. Among the UCF students was one
who has a disability and uses those campus services. A pizza lunch was shared by all.
The UCF SWE students then took the project participants on a tour of
engineering labs and to the materials research lab where Dr. Brenda Prentizer
had them participate in demonstrations.
A brief stop at the homecoming festivities ended the visit. Van driver/PA also attended.
#11--11 November 1999, Brevard Zoo-- Students participated in a behind-the-scenes visit to the Brevard Zoo, a facility just a few years old. This was led by the zoo educational director. He involved both women and men zoo staff to answer questions sent to him by the students prior to their visit. These included questions such as how the zoo was designed to be accessible for both visitors and staff (one of our students wants to be an architect), what specific jobs students with disabilities could fill in the zoo (just about everything, to the students' satisfaction), how both written and oral zoo information is made available in alternative forms as needed. Lunch was shared by all afterward. Attendees: 8 students, sign language interpreter, van driver/PA, parent.
#12--18 January 2000--Kissimmee--Six students traveled in the wheel-chair lift equipped van to Kissimmee to participate in the SEES (Students to Experience Engineering and Science) program of
the American Association of Physics Teachers during its Winter Meeting. They joined about 15 other students with disabilities from Orange County schools in this half-day hands-on activity. This is the 8th year that AAPT and SWE have joined together to sponsor SEES in various locations across the USA. The students were divided into 4 groups and rotated through each of the 4 activities. Two members of the SWE Central Florida Section presented an activity on manufacturing semiconductor wafers and brought a "bunny" suit for them to try on. The other 3 activities--chromatography, experimental determination of the circumference of a circle, and resonance with string and straws--were presented by AAPT members of the Women in Physics and Minorities committees. Three students from the University of Central Florida SWE Student Section, two of whom had met the students when they visited the UCF campus in October, assisted the presenters. Both student groups warmly greeted each other. A show about the magic of physics ended the morning. The SWE Tech Abilities students, after a buffet lunch, toured the AAPT exhibit hall and viewed interesting equipment such as wave tanks, model rockets, mousetrap cars and bridges. Exhibitors spent a great deal of time explaining what their equipment could do until students were able to understand. They also received a variety of unusual free gifts not available to other attendees such as a complete model rocket each and software. There was considerable interaction between our students, the presenters, AAPT members who came by and the exhibitors. Each student received a take-home back with SWE and AAPT information, a t-shirt and science trinkets. Teachers received additional SWE information in their bags. Everyone agreed it was a really great day. Also attending: sign language interpreter, van driver/PA.
#13--Space Coast SWE members will be meeting with the SWE Tech Abilities students during the 29 March rocket firings and lunch at Kennedy Space Center and participating in the April 8 Expanding Your Horizons program in Orlando at University of Central Florida. The 29 March event was cancelled because students voted to go to NSLD (event #14 below) as a more exciting event since all had previously been to KSC. No students attended Expanding Your Horizons because of schedule conflicts.
#14--March 2000, Cape Canaveral. This was a visit to the United Space Alliance NASA Shuttle
Logistics Depot (NSLD). Security clearance was required for all. After lunch with several Space Coast Section SWE members and NSLD employees who were to be their hosts for the afternoon, the students received an orientation briefing about what NSLD does. Then, for 3 hours the hosts took them through many activities, encouraging them to take part in CAD, chemical reactions, viewing materials for defects, preparing units for shuttle flights, locating equipment faults and etc. Employees with disabilities described how their workplaces had minor modifications to enable them to carry out their jobs. All the hosts encouraged the students to try anything they wanted to do, but to be sure to prepare for such work by completing their education. Attending also: Van driver/PA, sign language interpreter. Students' evaluation of day: "Fantastic!"
#15--May 2000, Cape Canaveral--This event was a pizza dinner with students with disabilities who are part of the High School/High Tech program visiting from other states during their spring break. Afterward the group had front row seats for the "Meet the Astronauts" session of Space Congress. This session is open to the public. Six astronauts, including 2 women--one a former member of Space Coast SWE--described their space flights or preparations for flight, then answered questions from the audience. Questions from our students were some of those answered. At the end of the session, the astronauts talked individually with the audience, including our students, and gave autographs. Attendees: 6 students, vana driver/PA, sign language interpreter, 1 member Central Florida SWE.
#16--24 May 2000, Florida Institute of Technology campus. The final activity for the year with the students is the Year-End Dinner scheduled for 24 May for students and their parents. Members of Space Coast SWE have been invited to participate. Both students and parents are being asked to evaluate this project to determine how it has changed their career goals and plans. This event is being hosted by Florida Institute of Technology in its new Olin Engineering Complex. Cancelled--no reservations from students, parents or SC SWE. Efforts to reschedule did not find a suitable day.
#17--May/June 2000--Evaluation forms were sent to all students who attended any events during this year. The six students who participated in most of the activities were awarded a SWE watch.
10.2.3--BENEFITS Students, the community, educators and SWE all benefited DR057
BENEFITS TO PARTICIPANTS SWE Tech Abilities program has benefited these young women with knowledge they can use for future careers through:
A. Planning for and obtaining appropriate education,
B. Being mentored by SWE and other engineer/scientist role models, with and without disabilities
C. Building self esteem as they achieve their goals,
D. Becoming independent self-sufficient citizens.
BENEFITS TO COMMUNITY SWE Tech Abilities has benefited faculty, students and administrations of the local school district and institutions of higher learning, employers, professional and community organizations through:
A. Expanded awareness of contributions possible from women with disabilities,
B. Knowledge of usual minimal accommodations to make the workplace accessible,
C. Positive changes in and contributions to social, economic, academic, industrial communities by women, especially those with disabilities.
BENEFITS TO SWE SWE Tech Abilities has benefitted SWE through:
A. Opportunities to reach a unique frequently underserved minority that is seldom targeted for preparation for high tech employment,
B. Increased visibility of SWE and SWE programs to the community and to persons with disabilities,
C. Actions to increase the pool of persons in the US trained to carry out science and engineering tasks,
D. Effective visibility of SWE to school counselors.
10.2.6--The year and a half time to carry out pilot project was adequate.
10.2.4 --Future-- This project could well become an annual section project which would provide three of four events each year for local students with disabilities. The campus and industry visits and the SEES event could be presented by SWE. Since the High School/High Tech program apparently will take those students to some events, a continuing partnership to enrich that program with SWE offerings would be valuable to students with disabilities as well as providing SWE with opportunities to serve this minority. Having continuity over several years provides better opportunities to get to know the young women and mentor them effectively. Means of following up the graduating seniors would allow continued mentoring, especially during the critical first year in college. The activities themselves would need very little alteration to be successful in an extended program, primarily to include a variety of locations.
ITEM 3 Measured results (attendees, surveys, other measurements) 10.2.3
The most tangible benefit is SWE's strong outreach to young women with disabilities. As far as we know, no SWE project has been targeted to this minority. Although the number of actual participants was smaller than anticipated, many other girls, boys, counselors, parents, teachers, human resource staffs, engineers, scientists, industries and agencies, and educational institutions were effectively impacted by this project. SWE gained significant visibility from each and every program event
SWE project volunteers included 17 SWE members @ 35 hours (11 Space Coast Section @ 20 hours & 5 Central Florida Section members @ 15 hours) + 18 SWE student members @ 67 hours (5 Florida Tech @ 12 hours + 13 University of Central Florida @ 55 hours) + 250 hours by SWE Project Manager. Total = 35 SWE members and student members @ 352 hours invested in SWE Tech Abilities. This is in addition to the paid professional services of the SCCIL staff who often went far out of their way to assist the project students.
Six young women participated in most of the activities; another ten girls were reached directly through the project, and about twenty to thirty other girls and boys were reached indirectly with project information. In addition, a number of school guidance and exceptional education counselors learned about the project and its opportunities through information distributed. All senior girls who participated have gone on to college to study SMET. Each student who evaluated this program indicated that it provided positive and valuable opportunities.
A copy of the final evaluation form is attached. The final evaluation was completed by only four participants even though it was transmitted via email for those who communicate electronically (by necessity or by desire) as well as by hard copy by mail. The SCCIL Project Manager made significant but unsuccessful efforts to get more responses. Students did not seem to feel that they were obligated to respond to the survey although all expressed high satisfaction with the events at the time and during successive activities.
The evaluation listed 15 events consisting of 24 activities. Among the 4 respondents, a total of 8 events and 19 activities were mentioned; three of these four took part in 3 or less activities and one student reported attending 7 events and 12 activities. Most responses were for the 1999 and 2000 Meet the Astronauts events in which the public, as part of Space Congress conference, is able to question and personally meet astronaut panelists. The other event with multiple responses was the Orlando SEES (Students to Experience Engineering and Science) which is annually held at part of the American Association of Physics Teachers Winter National Meeting
None of the respondents reported either any difficulties obtaining the wheel-chair accessible transportation provided by this project or significant conflict of SWE Tech Abilities events with other events. Actually, conflicts with other school, family, medical, community events and weather created many changes in planned schedules, frequently ending in cancellation of Tech Abilities events. These students who participated in Tech Abilities were incredibly involved in other activities but also were limited by physical endurance for the distances involved in our 70-mile long county. No participant at any time in the project was unable to take part for inability to obtain transportation in the needed form.
The quality of the career information provided by tours and visits, by meeting engineers and scientists with disabilities and by SWE members and student members was reported as "good" on the evaluation form. At the times of the events, however, nearly all students spontaneously told us that the activities and meeting the engineers/scientists were "fantastic" opportunities. Only one respondent wanted a SWE mentor or a mentor with a disability. None said a career change was made as a result of participation however informal discussions with the students indicated several were encouraged to continue with their existing career area expectations. The brief written replies to the question "What would you add to this program?" were that everything was great and it was a lot of fun and educational and interesting. Another added, "This helped me to realize I can succeed in my career." One also asked for "a program to help me get started in college, more than just space
ITEM 4. Publicity or other public attention. 10.2.8
The project outcomes have been communicated in several ways. The project was able to achieve only one brief and incomplete mention in newspaper or other community announcements. This is about average for our local news organizations for most community events unless they are major fund raisers. The newsletters of Space Coast Section and the Space Coast Center for Independent Living carried invitations for students and SWE members to participate.
The SWE Project Manager made several presentations at conferences about SWE Tech Abilities to interested audiences: SWE National Convention in Phoenix 1999; SWE National Convention in Washington 2000 (committee report session); Women's Engineering Society Annual Meeting, Wales, 1999; ICWES Ciba, Japan 1999; GIREP, Barcelona 2000 (International Group on Physics Education Research); Science Education for Students with Disabilities Annual Meeting at NSTA Orlando 2000; AAPT Women in Physics Committee Reports on activities at Summer and Winter Meetings 1999 and 2000. This project has received a great deal of favorable interest everywhere it has been presented.
"Barrier Free Education" web site requested SWE to "provide a blurb" about this project on http://barrier-free.arch.gatech.edu. A copy of a PR release approved by SWE HQ & ExxonMobil was provided. The site is titled:" Resources for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities into Math and Science Education."
ITEM 5 Deliverables Following is a list of items associated with this project that could be useful to others. A number of activity schedules are included to provide ideas that while they were not used here could be valuable in other circumstances. Most items were printed with SWE and SCCIL logos before distribution. Items are listed in chronological order; they are provided in hard copy form as attachments to this report.
1--Aug 99 Proposed Calendar of Events (from PIP)
2--Feb 99 *PR release approved by HQ/Exxon
3--Feb 99 *Proposed Schedule of Events
4--Feb 99 *Request for Participation to SC SWEM and guests
5--Feb 99 *Request to SC SWE to identify possible young women participants
*These items distributed at SC SWE Woman Engineer of Year Banquet
6--Mar 99 Letter mailed to all SC SWEM asking their participation
7--Apr 99 Program at Florida Tech workshop/lab day
8--May 99 Invitation to students & families to end of year dinner
9--Oct 99 Invitation to girls to participate in new year's activities
10-Oct 99 Application to participate
11-Oct 99 PR on informational meeting for new school year
12-Oct 99 Tentative SWE Tech Abilities Activities Schedule
13-Sep 99 Schedule of activities for extension of project (includes # SWEM requested)
14-Oct 99 Agenda for day at Univ. Central Florida College of Engineering
15-Oct 99 Tentative Schedule of Events
16-May 00 Invitation to students & families to end of year dinner
17-May 00 Project evaluation form
ITEM 6 Lessons learned, problems encountered, future plans, what you would do differently next time. 10.2.7
Approval of a proposal by a section does not necessarily mean strong participation. Invitations to section members through the newsletter, individually mailed letters, email or announcements during meetings usually did not elicit participation by section members. When section members were individually requested to speak, work with the girls in activities or provide contacts for activities, they usually did so, however members missed many opportunities to be significant role models.
Because the funds were received late in the first semester of the 1999-2000 school year and it was not possible to carry out many of the planned project activities in the time available, this project was approved to continue for a second year. The original schedule was changed several times. Some of the factors responsible are distances and travel times, weather, conflicting school, medical, family activities. Several proposed schedules are in the appendix and the final activities are described above.
Since both the SCCIL and SWE program managers had had considerable experience in planning and carrying out with students with disabilities activities such as those in this grant, we anticipated there would be challenges similar to those experienced.. This is one of the challenges we always face, and we modified our plans whenever necessary to provide an exciting and educational program for them.
Our county is over 70 miles long and travel times to events were often an hour each way. This limited the times and locations of events for students. Students who were wheel chair users required lift-equipped vans that had to be scheduled far in advance. Sign language interpreters also had to be scheduled ahead. There was sometimes not enough time after school to get students to tours or plants during hours of business. The rocket firing activity was rescheduled a number of times and never carried out because of multiple bad weather advisories, time required to get permission from fire marshals, conflicts with the proposed firing locations, lack of accessible (or any other kind within 5 miles) restrooms at the remote firing site. Before every event, either the SWE or SCCIL Program
Manager had to personally inspect the proposed location to make sure that the pathway to the buildings, the building and classroom/lab areas were accessible and had nearby accessible restrooms. The summer 3-day program was changed to activities during the year because of student preference and summer schedule conflicts with students and location. While all of the students were eager to take part in every event, they were sometimes limited by their physical stamina.
Although families readily gave permission for students to participate, only two parents accepted any invitations to events. If would have been helpful to have had some family contact and might have enabled us to better serve the students.
A Memorandum of Agreement was signed between SC SWE and SCCIL to lay framework for handling finances. The proposal by SC SWE to transfer about one-half of the grant to the Center up front, rather than paying after each event, simplified bookkeeping and permitted the center to pay expenses in a timely manner. It would have been helpful for the two organizations to have had a better understanding of each other's bookkeeping procedures.
This project enabled SWE to make a significant difference in the lives of the student participants and our community. We are grateful to ExxonMobil for making this opportunity possible.
ITEM 7 Budget and Actuals This project was permitted to cover more than one year. The original budget is given, followed by the actuals as of 30 October 2000.
PROJECT DR057 PROPOSED BUDGET
Space Coast Center for Independent Living $ 6854
Professional services of Center & Project Directors
Travel (Lift-equipped van & Center project employees) 2000
Student services (Interpreter, alternate form materials) 600
Overhead (Use of equipment, copying) 1000
Supplies (Notebooks, T-shirts, etc.) 350
Food 966
TOTAL $11770
Administrative costs-Space Coast Section $250
GRANT TOTAL $12020
PROJECT DR057 FINAL EXPENSES
A. Professional Services and Consulting Fees--SCCIL
Project Director, Sign Language Interpreter $4817.57
B. Travel (wheelchair accessible van & project staff) 412.91
C. Lodging 0
D. Food 447.64
E. Equipment & supplies 596.89
F. Publications (included in A) 0
G. Distribution (postage) (included in A) 0
H. Advertising 0
TOTAL
EXPENSES $ 6257.11
BUDGETED EXPENSES $11770.00 $11770.00
UNSPENT BALANCE 5512.89
SECTION ADMIN COSTS (TBD) 250.00
GRANT TOTAL $12020.00
Project Manager: Betty Preece Date: October 2000
Email: bp@snez.net Phone/fax 321-723-6835
Deliverables: email & hard copy appendix
One primary Strategic Priority this project addressed: Diversity
SWE Committees to which this report and deliverables would be of interest:
Career Guidance, Multicultural
Project Audience--Female
Age Group
High School
Contact Hours per attendee--varied from 4 to 40--depending upon number of activities in
which students participated
SWE Volunteers-- 35 SWEM & Student SWE = 352 hours
Non-SWE Volunteers 24 = 90 hrs