Students and staff from the Orientation Center visited a local chocolaterie for some sampling and learning about what goes in to making quality chocolate.
Stam Chocolaterie owner Ton Stam spoke to the group for about an hour about the history of his Des Moines operation and about the process of making chocolate. Then, students were able to sample as many different kinds of chocolates they wanted before heading upstairs to the production rooms.
There, Stam employees were packaging chocolate bunnies for Easter. The group learned about the many steps taken to produce chocolate, and, in the process, were able to practice their travel and other non-visual skills in a real-world setting, according to Orientation Center teacher Cynthia Qloud.
“Field trips like this help our students build confidence in their daily living skills,” she said. “They have to ask questions and, in this case, envision the detailed process of making chocolate without actually being able to see it. They also were able to use their travel skills in an unfamiliar environment, which is very important in the process of becoming adept in one’s mobility with little or no vision.”
“Ton Stam did a good job describing how chocolate was produced,” said Orientation Center Program Administrator Sandy Tigges. “It was a nice tour.”
The students were able to touch molds used in making the chocolates to get the sense of the shapes used.
“It was good to use other senses than our sight on this trip,” said Gaia, a student in the orientation center.
Students who come to the orientation center enter an intensive program in the skills of blindness. They take five classes, five days a week, in Braille, computers, home economics, industrial arts and travel with the long, white cane. They also take a sixth class three days a week to discuss the issues related to blindness.
These field trips, Qloud says, are an opportunity to teach beyond those skills, but also have the students apply what they are learning outside the center.
See more photos from the event.
Learn more in a video about the orientation center here.
