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Campers Find Shared Vision

TRIBUNE PHOTO CANDACE C. MUNDY

Alonso High School student Paul Martinez, 18, who is visually impaired, was one of the ten Hillsborough County students selected to attend the SCIVIS Space Camp 2008 in September. Paul holds his Aviation Challenge Mach III team t-shirt.

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By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR cpastor@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 15, 2008

TOWN 'N COUNTRY - Last year, Paul Martinez never would have scaled a utility pole, scrambled up a rock wall or flown down a zip line into a pool.

Then he lost his eyesight.

Nine months later, he accomplished all three challenges in a week. Tackling the heights proved to be less intimidating than if he had seen them clearly.

"I would have looked down," said Martinez, a senior at Alonso High. "I would have given up."

Instead, he convinced himself he was only a couple of feet above the ground and kept climbing higher. Friends cheered him on from below. His confidence grew. Maybe he will pursue another goal one day, he said: skydiving.

"I don't have to close my eyes," he said.

Martinez, 18, tested his limits in September at Space Camp for Interested Visually Impaired Students. Held for a week in Alabama, the camp follows the same curriculum as traditional Space Camp with minor adaptations to make activities accessible.

Ten students from Hillsborough County elementary, middle and high schools attended Space Camp's week for visually impaired students, choosing to focus on simulated astronaut or fighter pilot training. Martinez was not that interested in space, he said, so he signed up for the Mach III Aviation Challenge, geared to high schoolers.

His days lasted from a 7 a.m. wake-up call to 10:30 p.m. lights out, incorporating lessons as well as multiple missions stressing survival skills. He and his teammates performed water rescues from a helicopter dunked in a pool in a mock crash. They practiced takeoffs and landings in flight simulations. Students used Braille or computer programs with speech functions or large print, depending on what they could see.

"I didn't want the week to finish," Martinez said.

The program started 19 years ago with a group of students from West Virginia, said coordinator Dan Oates. Other states joined gradually, and in the mid-1990s, it expanded to include international students. This year, 178 students attended.

The missions are the same offered to sighted participants, although the schedule follows a slower pace to give students more time to complete activities, Oates said. Although the visually impaired camp occurs once annually, Oates said the experience makes it easier for Space Camp to accommodate blind students who attend on field tripswith their classes.

The advantage to a camp for students with vision problems is the camaraderie they develop. The students are eager to try the activities and appreciate being given responsibilities with no limitations because of their eyesight, Oates said.

"They're given that responsibility, and their self-esteem takes a huge boost," he said. "Being around other kids like themselves, there's no pretense about being someone they're not. The kids relax. A lot tell me that for the first time, it's cool to be blind. It's OK to use their cane or their magnifier."

Martinez said participants bonded over pin and bracelet trading, swapping wristbands that said "freedom" and "peace." They gave one another code names, such as "Ice" for Martinez, a nod to his earrings. He became friends with a boy dubbed "Hotshot," and in a couple of days, the other campers were referring to them jointly as "Icyhot."

They also encouraged one another: "You can hear everybody. Not once is there silence," Martinez said. "Everybody's like, 'You can do it.'"

They talked about blindness, too.

Martinez did not have problems with his sight until last fall, when objects began looking blurry. He tried to ignore it but went to a doctor when he realized he no longer could read lessons and instructions at the front of his classrooms. He also felt more tired than usual.

He learned in December that he had multiple sclerosis. He lost sight in his right eye and most in his left. His life suddenly got more complicated. He had to rely on friends to help him navigate to classes, and he enrolled in classes where he again learned to read and write, this time in Braille.

Formerly a class clown, Martinez said he needed to mature to accept his illness. He now spends free time studying, listening to music and working his after-school job at Target.

At Space Camp, he and others shared their experiences. He wanted to know whether other students, many of whom had been blind since birth, felt angry about not being able to see. Instead, he was impressed with their positive attitudes.

Martinez is considering a career as a counselor with the state division of blind services to help other students. When he gets down, he said he tries to think of life as a speed bump.

"Every problem you have, you've got to overcome it," he said.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Nearly 180 visually impaired students from across the country and internationally attended Space Camp from Sept. 20-25 in Huntsville, Ala. It usually costs between $675 and $725, but 10 Hillsborough County students attended for free through a cooperative effort among the public schools, Tampa Division of Blind Services, Tampa Lighthouse for the Blind and Lions Eye Institute Foundation.

The local students were: Denisha Kirnes, Burnett Middle; Shelton "Lucas" Langford, Jennings Middle; Paul Martinez, Alonso; Jon Miller, FishHawk Creek Elementary; McKenna Murphy, Adams Middle; Vanessa Saucedo, Burnett Middle; Claudia Sucre, Colson Elementary; Elisa Terrill, Northwest Elementary; Cyriss Vasquez, Colson Elementary; and Edgardo Velazquez, Miles Elementary

Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (813) 865-1503.

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