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Saturday, July 2

Camp Courage Journal by Paula

This morning I woke up and ate a meal of slightly burned French toast and sausages. The only reason they were burnt was because we had to cook them over an open fire.

Then we came back to Camp Courage and I came down to College Preview where they were talking about Satellite mapping using the new Google Earth software. Next we talked about the inside of computer and how computers work. We learned things like why a floppy drive is called a floppy drive and why a hard drive is called a hard drive. The main difference between the two is that one is a hard metal plate and the one is a piece of plastic. We learned that a computer processes all the information using zeros and ones.

A computer does not actually know about the alphabet or anything like that. We learned that there is a complicated system with which electrons make the images on the computer screen. We also learned how sound is used for voice activation.

We looked at the developing College Preview web site which is lacking some key things such as biographies from some people.They were reminded to turn them in. It is at http://www.couragecamps.org/lakeside/Courage2005/index.html.

After lunch, which consisted of a tuna sandwich, pasta salad and fruit., we came back to College Preview and listened to success stories from previous campers, including Anthony Arnold from North Dakota. We talked about transportation difficulties. It was very interesting and made me realize that people with disabilities have to think before they plan their future. College is not always the path to success, but it is a good starting point.

I also talked to Sheryl about what would be needed to prove your disabilities to the College Board. Sheryl said that I should ask the College Board; they can tell me if I need an evaluation by someone outside my school or they will take the school's recommendations for accommodations on the SAT test. Perhaps an assessment can be inserted in a student’s High School IEP. Make sure you don’t leave high school without the documentation required for college. Call the University you may want to go to and find out the required documentation required. The "Transition to Adulthood" portion of the IEP requirements places the onus on the High School to provide the required university documentation.

After going to the craft shop to make pillows I came back to the tech lab. Clay was preparing a scrumptious meal. It consisted of steak, corn, potatoes, zucchini, and red peppers it was the best meal I had had at camp 9 no offence to the cooks). For dessert we had root beer floats. Which were the best tasting root beer floats I had had. Then I want inside and talk to Aaron about various subjects. All the while I was ditching evening program hopefully my counselors won’t be mad at me. After I am finished writing this I will talk to people until I fall asleep.