http://nfbyouthslam.org Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:39:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 ©National Federation of the Blind tolivero@nfb.org (National Federation of the Blind) tolivero@nfb.org(National Federation of the Blind) 1440 blind students, science, engineering, technology, math, blindness, national federation of the blind National Federation of the Blind National Federation of the Blind tolivero@nfb.org No no http://nfbyouthslam.org/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg http://nfbyouthslam.org 144 144 http://nfbyouthslam.org/2009/07/31/aloha-from-karl-pangilinan-237 http://nfbyouthslam.org/2009/07/31/aloha-from-karl-pangilinan-237#comments Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:40:30 +0000 Denzel http://nfbyouthslam.org/?p=237 Hey everyone, its me with another interesting interview. I had the opportunity to interview my mentor, Karl. He is from Honolulu, Hawaii, which is on one of the islands that make up the state. Karl’s hobbies include Playing the guitar, walking ( which I also do.), hanging out at the beach, and cooking. Karl came to The Youth Slam because he wanted to do at least one good deed for society. He says that being apart of this year’s Youth Slam has been a learning experience for him because he has learned not to live in fear and because his mentees are cool. Karl is having fun laughing with mentees and now realizes that he can relate to other blind people just as I can relate to him.
Growing up was a hard road for Karl. He was born blind, and his parents sheltered him. They felt that he was in the way and helpless, but they also wanted him to be perfect. Karl felt bad and was driven to rebel against everyone. He spoke about his high school life which brought a tear to my eye. Karl was picked on by his sister’s boyfriend and was later abandon by his sister. He also had bad grades because he had no accessible equipment for blind students. Karl says the only things he did well in school were dancing and wrestling, but he had to fight to join the team because he had to prove that a blind guy could wrestle. After high school he left home because he recognized that he had to grow up since his parents weren’t going to be around forever.
So Karl went to a training center in California, where he got the proper training to be a successful blind adult. He says it was scary, but fear drove him to learn quickly. After his training he attempted to attend college to study electronic music. He has one trustworthy friend who also wants him to be successful and live life.
Karl plans to find a job teaching computers. He wants us blind teens to keep our heads up. So, Karl, thank you. I want you to know that you are the best. Thanks for being my mentor. I love you and everyone else here.
Until next time.

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