“Bosma is behind me one-hundred percent, and it’s nice to know I don’t have to choose between my job and my education.”

Being a college student is challenging, but being visually impaired makes it even tougher. For Robin it’s all worth it. Robin is a part-time student at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, majoring in elementary education with a minor in music. She wants to teach students in kindergarten through the third grade. 

Robin started working for Bosma Enterprises as a production employee in 1996.  In 1998 Bosma located a kindergarten teaching job for her in a church daycare center. However, in 2001 her vision worsened and she chose to come back to Bosma where she would receive the support she needed to better deal with her vision loss. After extensive training, she applied for the receptionist position at our front desk; she has been working there ever since. 

Robin starting experiencing vision loss in seventh grade, but she was too self-conscious to acknowledge the problem. To help her get by, she paid her younger sister to read her textbooks aloud, and luckily Robin had a remarkable memory.  Despite these obstacles, Robin graduated from high school with good grades and started college at the University of Cincinnati. Her loss of vision prevented her from completing her freshmen year. 

Now, Robin enjoys being an IUPUI student.  She says her classmates are very friendly and helpful and her teachers use   descriptive words to help her visualize the concepts they are teaching.  She e-mails her professors before the start of the semester to explain what she needs to be a successful student.  Robin also uses books formatted especially in either Braille or on the computer, and Adaptive Educational Services provides her with special accommodations. She attends class after work or during the day. Robin says, “Bosma is behind me one-hundred percent, and it’s nice to know I don’t have to choose between my job and my education.”

Robin received straight A's last semester.  She is just two semesters short of receiving the diploma that she has worked so hard for.  In the meantime, between being a student and a Bosma employee, Robin keeps herself busy with the most important task of all—being the mother of three, and most recently, a grandmother.