ESP, Polus Center’s career exploration program for High-School students with visual impairments, has been working with Charlie since the program’s inception three years ago. Always expressing interest in filmmaking, ESP helped Charlie augment his school opportunities with internships at AFTV (Access Framingham TV) and workshops at Lau Lapides Vocal Studio.
In 2018, with fellow ESP participant Declan Kelly, Charlie created a local historical film in partnership with AFTV & Lex Media called Framingham Figures. Charlie continues to hone his skills as a member of his school TV news program, and this past fall, Framingham High School VP Gregory Lagan, nominated Charlie for the A+ feature. We are all very proud of you Charlie!
Here is VP Gregory Lagan’s nomination:
Charlie has mastered his skills through internships at Access Framingham TV (AFTV)
Charlie is legally blind with a corrected vision of 20/200. He has bilateral congenital glaucoma and has gone through 26 surgeries over the course of his life for everything from a spinal cyst, to an eye removal when he was 8-years-old necessitating the use of a prosthetic. As I sit writing, he had to have emergency surgery suddenly for an unexpected complication from a previous surgery he underwent this past summer. On top of his loss of sight, he has moderate hearing loss in his left hear for which he wears a hearing aid while at school, ADHD, and dyslexia.
Charlie is a friendly, polite, and respectful, a pleasure to have in class. He works hard, earning solid grades in his classes, but he has found particular success in the TV studio. Charlie does a lot for “Flyer News,” our school-wide TV news program. His favorite position is as a cameraman, where he almost never makes a mistake and goes on special assignments all over the city producing PSAs and other messages that are seen city-wide. On top of that, he also is a great presence to have in the morning. He always says hi to everyone and walks in every day with a smile on his face despite his daily struggles.
Kudos to you Charlie and thank you for your effort every day!
