 Good morning everyone and welcome. Now that Santa Claus has arrived we can get this party started. Well welcome everyone. My name is Jim Phipps. I'm the president and executive director here at the Iris Network and we are very very pleased to have the students from our first rehabilitation center session presented today for certificates of completion and we're very excited to have their families and friends join us for this event. I want to recognize Walter Wojtosek who is a member of our board of directors and he's here today representing the board and there may be other members of our board joining us before the morning's over but Walter if you just stand up for one second. Thank you. At this point I'd like to introduce Rabia Dao. Rabia has joined the Iris Network only within the past year but he brings a wealth of experience to the Iris Network and he has run residential vision rehabilitation programs for the last almost 20 years so he has been an enormous asset as we have planned this program and launched it and it's really my pleasure to ask Rabia to come forward to the to the lectern. He is really responsible for the programming that the students in the rehab center program have received here for the last three months so Rabia thank you. Thank you Jim. Usually we don't get this much credit so I appreciate that. Thank you. So good morning again and good morning to Santa. We have a nice exciting event this morning and for those of you who have not heard yet this is being videoed by a cable, a community cable network in the back and that would be at some point in the future so behave yourselves. YouTube polling right now. So this is a happy occasion and I want to hear the graduates just say good morning. Good morning graduates. Good morning. Ah no no no that's not gonna make it. Come on now. What is the energy? Good morning. Good morning. Okay. Good morning. There you go Bob. There you go. So we are here at a happy occasion in a lot of ways. I want to welcome obviously the graduates who are here. Their families, their friends, other IRS clients who are with us today in various programs. The staff of the IRS network and DBVI and we have with us Bob Lewis the acting director of DBVI and was mentioned Walter from our board directors and of course Santa with the Christmas spirit. It is befitting that we're holding this first graduation on the eve of Christmas Day. You know many of us can stop and think about that for a minute. Christmas is a time for an all. It is a new beginning and so is the lives of our graduates today. Our four graduates have gone through a physically, emotionally, intellectually tough journey for the last three months that have been with us. There are trailblazers in many ways. True they are the first class in an exciting new service here in the state of Maine and indeed in the country itself. But even more importantly they are blazing trail for themselves in their own lives. Beginnings are exciting, scary, but they're full of anticipation, of dreams, of hopes. Everything is possible at times like this. And so much potential, so much life to look forward to, so much energy and so much confidence in the future. It takes a lot of grit and patience to put yourself through a rehab program like the one that have gone through. It also takes a lot to support the clients to go through a program like this. So first I would like to acknowledge a couple people on a couple groups of people I guess. First and foremost I want to acknowledge the family and friends. These are really the backbone in a way of our lives. They are the ones to give us the courage, right? The drive to go on to do what we want to do to reach for our potential for our dreams. Let's give the families and friends a big hand today. State services for the blind in Maine, DVVI, many of them work very hard and oftentimes they're not acknowledged for their work. We do ask a lot of them and we keep asking for more. We look to them impatiently, oftentimes for answers, for solutions, for something to make our life better quickly. And it's a tough job. So I want to acknowledge the DVVI staff. Would you please stand up? Let's give them a big hand too. The day-to-day Iris Center staff who've worked with the clients who are graduating today. They have the VRTs, the ONMs, the low vision therapists, the technology instructors, case manager, the counselor, the ADL, VRCs who worked here as well. The dorm staff, the cooks, the support staff up and down the organization 24 days, 24 hours, seven days a week. They put their heart and soul into their work and they really are the Iris Network rehab center. When clients ask to return and to want to visit the rehab center, they're not going to come to visit walls and doors and and computers that are 20 years old, right? They're going to be looking to meet with the client with the staff and their fellow clients who made the experience what it is today. So let's give that staff a big hand as well. Today's graduation is first and foremost for the four graduates. It is also a graduation for all those who have worked to realize the dream of this center. I want to make sure that we acknowledge everybody who has not been acknowledged yet because this is really a happy occasion for all of us. So let's give all of all of us as a community a big hand for a job. I'm going to tell you a story about rehab. It's a personal story. As many of you know, I do have a secondary disability besides my blindness. And that is I do have one hand. I wear a left hand prosthesis and prosthetic hand is a device. It's a mechanical device that just like anything else that's mechanical. It's a machine. It breaks and it needs repair. So one time I went to a clinic to fix my broken prosthesis and I was waiting in the room for my turn and I noticed this lady who probably was about 30, 35 something like that in the room with a little child about two or three year old kid and the child was running around climbing on furniture and having a good time and this lady who I assume was the mother was chasing this child trying to make sure that the child is safe. Just for running around the room trying to keep her out of trouble. And I noticed also that although I'm blind I could tell through the gate of this lady as she moved around she definitely had a prosthetic leg. And I was impressed by that. When my turn came I went in and I sat to the technician said you know I work in blindness rehab and it frustrates me when I come to a place like this I lose a hand you give me one grant you it's not the same as a real hand but it works. It allows me to do things that are functional on a daily basis. This lady loses a leg she comes in and you give her a leg and she's able to keep her daughter out of trouble and safe. She's raising her daughter that's that's miracle and it's frustrating for me in blindness rehab because I can't give anybody a functional prosthetic eye besides cosmetic eye there is no such thing. So on the way back to the office that morning I was thinking about that and it occurred to me that and I did say that to a couple of people who were graduating that day actually as well that despite all that what it comes down to is that what you the four graduates and others who are in the program and receiving rehab now are getting out of your experience in rehab will never break it's not a machine right it's much more than a device and nobody can take it away from you you can you can lose it you can break it it's a foundation that you can build upon for the rest of your life that is something that no device no magic pill is going to give you I hope you remember that rehab is much more than a quick fix it's a fix for for life remember that you rehab is much more than a skill much more than a resource more than an idea more than a connection it is that all of that and that much more it's really what you've become yourself as a result of going through all that experience for the last 12 weeks I want to congratulate you on your efforts on your dreams Jeff, Bob, Sudeep and Pauline congratulations on completing the IRS network rehabilitation program and for being the first class in this program and I wish you the best for the rest of your life congratulations good morning I had the privilege of presenting the first certificate to Jeffrey Netto I had the privilege of meeting Jeff a little more than a year ago actually up in the county and at that point he wouldn't listen to anything when I tried to tell him about opportunities and transportation that might have been in Bangor in Portland so I was thrilled when I heard that he decided to come to the center and I think now he's realized that Portland isn't quite the big bad scary city he thought it might be right Jeff so I stand here and I was thinking Jeff really has no idea he doesn't see how far he has come in the last three months it is really remarkable how much he effort he has put into his program the hurdles he has jumped all of it has truly been amazing and most impressive has been the initiative he has really taken upon himself to start moving his life in a direction that he wants it to go in and not letting it happen to him and I really really commend you for doing that and doubtless there will be hurdles to come getting from here to there finding a new job but I know now that you know that you yourself can get these things done time and time again I heard just really how smart and what a quick learner you are you take it into your own hands if you have a question and google or youtube whatever an answer might be and that's one of those things that ruby was saying is you can't necessarily you can't take that away from someone in being able to search out your own research resources and answers so congratulations Jeff it is truly amazing I wish you the best of luck in your time to come Jeff congratulations I'm very pleased to present this certificate of completion just one of them oh you've already done that okay sorry so Jeff can you Jeff I'd like to just shake your hand and congratulate you for your participation thank you and this is bud Lewis let's take a photo with the two of you so if you'd like to say a word there's a the podium right here if you just touch your rocks okay all right well hi I have the honor and privilege of presenting Sudeep his certificate of completion um Sudeep you know you and I and probably a few other people in this room know that this was not probably your first choice of what you were going to do this fall it was an unexpected detour I guess if you will and as so often happens in life we all have those you really rose to the occasion you took the opportunity to participate in this program to the fullest as far as as far as I know anyway the classes that you had were with me were in voc rehab and the group sessions and the individual sessions really focused on exploring your career interests research kind of a lot of the things that Amber and Ruby talked about developing ability statements going out and practicing your elevator speech taking the initiative I guess you really were like a sponge in the classes you took the information and you went out and you applied it and you would come back and tell me about it and I've known this young man for a while that has not always been the case so I just need to say you're a person we talked about this yesterday who took charge of their life you really have and because of that the next phase of your life which which you had to put on hold in order to do this program is going to begin in a in the few weeks actually Sudipa is starting college and a job he used the skills that he learned here through the foundational skills of the assistive technology the vision rehab therapy O&M communication braille and manual arts to to really build and develop the foundation that you need in order to put all the rest of it together and you've done that and I know you've developed confidence and I have to say I feel more confident about your plan as well and I know we all wish you lots of luck as you go to the next chapter in your journey and keep open to those detours Sudipa all right congratulations come on up Sudip congratulations bud Lewis and I are extraordinarily pleased to um that you've completed the program and we wish you all the success that's ahead of you congratulations well I gotta be honest I didn't really prepare a statement so to speak I just wanted to kind of say thanks to to everybody who kind of felt um I just wanted to say thanks to everybody for helping not just me just to all of us kind of get to where we are today and to to we wouldn't be here we're not for everybody around us and I think as Judy said I had taken initiative but it was because of the other people around me I mean even my sister Susie she and everybody else around me has pushed me and and gave me the confidence and I needed so I thank you for that and yeah so I've been given the honor of presenting this certificate to Robert Hartford I've known Robert for quite a few years now and the one quality that I would say um about Bob which in this program really worked in his favor is that he had a single purpose for coming to the program and that was to learn skills to become more independent because he wanted to work and he made those expectations and goals pretty clear before the program started and yesterday when we were speaking um and kind of looking back at what his initial goals were and what his goals were halfway through the program um he stated that he had accomplished what he had come here to do um which was to learn skills to be able to take home um and they might have been skills that he had learned in the past um but the key was he had discovered that they those skills needed to be practiced it wasn't something that he just needed to learn it was something that he needed to absorb um and then practice and practice and repeat and practice again and he said going home um that is going to be um the difference is that he's going to be um continuing to work on improving those skills um and so I would like to say to Robert that you have completed what you came here to do um you have um more than um completed and kind of surprised I think most of us on what you have learned um and what you've demonstrated for your abilities and I have no doubt you'll continue to um practice those skills and um see a job probably very soon in your future so um I would like you to come up now and get your certificate please I I actually want to thank all the people that basically helped me along along the way even the mobility specialist and also all the funny things that um John Allen said because it kept me motivated through the whole through the whole program and I want to thank everybody including the board and directors and all the staff to get this program going and god bless you all to keep it going thank you very much that's yours forever and uh congratulations on completing the program and I'll just mention I'm not supposed to say much but I um in my former career I practiced law for 25 years before coming to the iris network so the words that your vocational rehabilitation counselor had to say today um are very meaningful and if you practice your skills you will do well congratulations this is John Allen and I want to say before I say anything about Pauline Robert remember what happened at the rehab center stays at the rehab center I'm glad that you uh you thought that I helped you a lot Bob thank you very much and yes that leaves Pauline I had the pleasure of teaching all four students not only technology but also manual arts and one thing was very interesting is I being not a person that could ever saw a piece of wood straight that they would put this in my hands to teach manual arts but then Robia very nicely at the very beginning of it gave me a little bag of of replacement fingers it was Halloween time and he gave me some little fingers and I appreciated that and I'm glad to say that all my students and more importantly myself have all our fingers it was a great experience Pauline thank you very much for coming here and I know how hard this was for all of you but Pauline I think maybe your anxiety level was just slightly higher than others and you had a very hard time coming here and you have a very close family and it means the world to you and that was difficult for you and you had some bumps in the road that made it pretty overwhelming sometimes and you would have your moments and then you'd pick yourself up and you'd keep going again sometimes it was two steps forward one step back sometimes it was one step forward two steps back but you never gave up and you kept plowing along plugging along trying to learn what we were teaching you especially in technology and then all of a sudden one day I have no idea what happened but it was great and she's over there doing a happy dance she was so proud of herself she ran out of technology had to go find Amber and do the happy dance for her and tell her that whatever it was she accomplished she felt so good and she felt like this was a good place for her and from I think that was the turning point that I remember and from that point on were there bumps in the road absolutely did you have some issues absolutely did you have fun I hope so I think you did but you also started working a little more when things weren't going right you really sat there and tried to figure it out and move on and it was evident the other day it was Monday I think and all of a sudden I hear Pauline hoping and howling again she was so proud of herself and it turns out she decided she wanted to download something on her computer she went out to the internet found it downloaded it troubleshoot whatever you had to do and you are so proud of yourself well believe me we are so proud of you and I thank you very much for everything you've done to help me learn this process because with us all four students and all the teachers it was great experience for all of us and I thank you very much you've done very very well and you should be very proud thank you but first of all I want to thank my husband my family for believing in me and supporting me without that without you believing me I wouldn't have been able to finish as far as all the teachers and the staff and the people behind the scenes I want to thank you for making this program possible for all of us and for the future it's really something I think we all needed for the dorm staff I want to thank them for keeping us safe these three months dbvi thank you for all your help and support without all of you I would not feel as free as I am them right now being able to move forward uh Sue Ellen uh I don't know if she's here she's all the consular I want to thank her especially for allowing us to play mind games with her in our session but uh this is a great program and I hope that there's many many more students that will be coming here thank you okay I want to congratulate everybody again today and I'm going to open it up to the rest of the group in the room here anybody like to say anything to the graduates today just speak up I'm uh my name is Susie Pepper I'm a student sister and these are his niece and nephew so they get into trouble while talking sorry um I've noticed when Suvi first came to this program it was I was there was a lot of um Suvi had needed some some some help in figuring out how to live his life at home and how to really manage things simple things that we take for granted as as sighted people um such as making coffee for making breakfast or doing laundry or dishes or cleaning and I after when he would come home when there was a Thanksgiving break or I was here watching him or watching his progress it was really amazing to see the work that he and the staff had put in to make his life easier and um you know it still takes him time like it's always going to to do things but he has really come a long way and I and I don't think that being kind of ignorant in how to teach people or teach a blind person how to really live and work in a home um without kind of going through a lot of painstaking process of like is this easier for you or what I don't know what's easier for you to do and the staff here really helped make things more clear more succinct and easier for him to live and I'm really excited for him to start on this new journey of college and living on his own to see what it what it's like to be self-sufficient and how proud of yourself you can be when you're self-sufficient and can take care of yourself um so I want to thank the staff shortly for all of their work and help in making Sudeep a more sustainable have a sustainable life career job um and so much of the time it takes more than family to get you through that and I really appreciate the staff for being there for Sudeep every these past three months and and I'm sure for the rest of his life probably so thank you very much and thank you to Sudeep for working so hard to get where you are today to the ground