Solutions in Sight: News Article: Congratulations to all the 2010 Braille Challenge winners!
June 30, 2010
Congratulations to all the 2010 Braille Challenge winners!
Six First-Timers Among Winners
Fifteen excited students 1st through 12th grades and from all across the country were named as first, second or third place winners at The 2010 Braille Challenge Awards Ceremony on Saturday, June 26. While the JV and Varsity winners have all been Challenge Finalists at least once before, six of the remaining nine younger contestants were first-time Finalists.
On hand to present their prize of a U.S. Savings bond, and for first place winners, a PacMate pocket PC, were actors Ashley Parker Angel, best known as a former member of the musical group “O Town,” and Andrea Lewis, who plays Hazel in the TV series “Degrassi High: The Next Generation.” The opening and closing musical solos were performed by Marleena Coulston, a talented singer who has performed on the national stage and is herself visually impaired.
Briana Brewer, a 12th grader from Kansas City, Kansas, was awarded the NBC4 Braille Superstar Award for Excellence In Reading Comprehension. This award was created by the NBC Television Network to recognize outstanding achievement in the area of reading comprehension. She received a $1000 scholarship presented by NBC reporter Patrick Healy.
Carl Augusto, President of the American Foundation for the Blind, presented Braille Institute President Les Stocker with AFB’s prestigious Access Award, given each year to those who are helping to eliminate or reduce inequities faced by people who are blind or visually impaired.
Rosalind Rowley, a generalist teacher for Perkins School for the Blind in Massachussetts, was presented with the “Teacher of the Year Award for Excellence in Braille Instruction.” She received a special trophy, a cash prize and a PacMate personal PDA, donated by Freedom Scientific. She joins an inspirational group of teachers for children who are visually impaired who have received this honor.
Awards were also presented to winners of BIA’s first Cinema Without Sight Film Festival. Best Picture was awarded to Andrew Neylon of Fishers, Indiana, for his short, “The Viewmaster.” Honorable Mention was awarded for the collaborative short, “Seeing Through The Lens,” jointly submitted by Ashley Bernard, Michele Smith, and Laurie Cherry-White, who are students at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts.
