Details: Rocky Mountain Awards Luncheon
Attend our 2014 Analyst and Desktop Technician of the Year Awards luncheon and receive free admission to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Admission does not include IMAX.
The special guest speaker is Mike Hess from the Blind Institute of Technology.
Speaker: Mike Hess
An English proverb states, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Mike Hess began his journey as a disabled person at the age of 7. As an April Fools baby, he was a natural class clown and wanted to sit in the back of the class cracking jokes as early as the 1st grade. He quickly moved to the front of the class after realizing he was not able to see the chalkboard. After visiting a large Cleveland hospital, Mike and his mother learned that he was losing his sight and would be completely blind by the age of eighteen. At such a young age, he had no idea what blind even meant. When he asked his mom, she simply stated that he was going to be special. At this point, in many ways, he began to fulfill her prophecy.
Mike’s mom was determined to keep him within the public schools and did not want to send him to a school for blind and deaf children. He refused to allow schoolmates to bully him for being blind. After graduation, Mike enrolled at the Community College of Denver (CCD) where he studied computer programming and began a career in Information Technology (IT). He graduated from CCD in 1995 with a certificate in application programming and also received the Student of the Year award from the Computer Training for People with Disabilities (CTPD) program.
Beyond IT he competes in martial arts tournaments; snow and water skis; runs half marathons and climbs 14,000 foot mountains.
Mike’s journey has been thrilling thus far, as he has climbed corporate ladders, martial arts belts and literal mountains. However, his thousand miles are far from over – the next phase of his journey is materializing before his mind’s eye. Whatever his next path may bring, he looks forward to meeting it head-on and growing from the experience.