By Darla Shelden, Metropolis Sentinel Reporter —
OKLAHOMA CITY – Three Oklahoma Metropolis residents, Elbin Carrillo, Julio Valdez and Ben Middleton, earned medals and prizes in the course of the 2023 Oklahoma Regional Braille Problem® hosted by Oklahoma Faculty for the Blind (OSB).
Thirty-two opponents participated, 11 for the primary time.
Carrillo was the highest winner within the Braille Problem® contest. He earned a gold medal within the varsity class for grades 10-12 and the very best total rating amongst all sophomore, junior varsity and varsity stage opponents.
Carillo additionally received a Victor Reader Stream handheld media participant and recorder donated by Humanware, a worldwide digital expertise growth firm.
Valdez, a sophomore, earned a silver medal within the varsity class and Middleton, a junior, received a silver medal within the transition 2 class.
All three are Oklahoma Faculty for the Blind college students.
Braille Problem® is a nationwide program sponsored by the Braille Institute of America, a nonprofit group that eliminates obstacles attributable to blindness and extreme sight loss.
Historically, Braille Problem® happens on a single day on the OSB campus in Muskogee.
This 12 months testing occurred over a month, which permitted smaller testing teams, fewer volunteers and adaptability for scholar absences as a result of sickness or climate.
Contestants within the apprentice, freshman, and transition classes accomplished braille exams in spelling, studying comprehension and proofreading.
Sophomore, Junior Varsity and Varsity contestants answered questions on charts and graphs, studying comprehension and proofreading, and listened and transcribed passages into braille.
Volunteer academics for visually impaired proctored the competitors, which was scored by Faye Miller, Oklahoma Faculty for the Blind orientation and mobility specialist and Braille Problem coordinator.
“The Braille Problem offers college students alternatives to reveal abilities important to their employment success and future independence,” OSB Superintendent Rita Echelle stated.
The Braille Institute will invite 50 finalists to compete just about within the Nationwide Braille Problem from June 28 to July 11.
Nationally qualifying contestants have superior 25 occasions since 2003 from the Oklahoma Faculty for the Blind’s regional competitors to the nationwide finals.
In 2019, three Oklahoma opponents certified to compete on the nationwide stage: Richelle Zampella, Katelynn Zampella from Muskogee, and Hunter Kelley, a contestant this 12 months from Claremore.
Contestants obtained goodie baggage with objects donated by the Braille Institute and different sponsors. Frank Dirksen offered t-shirts.
Brailled certificates of appreciation and basic efficiency suggestions can be mailed to households and educators in Could.
Further Braille Problem sponsors embrace Oklahoma Faculty for the Blind, Liberty Braille, Nano Pac, NewView Oklahoma, Oklahoma Affiliation for the Training and Rehabilitation of Blind and Visually Impaired, Oklahoma Council of the Blind, Ruth Kelly Studios, Reliant Rehabilitation, Sapulpa Lions Membership, Seedlings and SERVPRO.
The Oklahoma Faculty for the Blind, a division of the Oklahoma Division of Rehabilitation Providers, is the statewide useful resource for the training of scholars who’re blind and visually impaired.
Residential and commuter college students meet all state-mandated training necessities and obtain specialised instruction in Braille, orientation and mobility, optimum use of low imaginative and prescient, adaptive tools expertise and tactile graphic abilities not available at different public faculties within the state.
The varsity maintained a one hundred pc commencement charge in 2023.
OSB offers a whole bunch of free providers every year, together with free evaluations and consultations, for college kids attending native public faculties, their households and native college employees.
For extra details about the Oklahoma Faculty for the Blind, name 877-229-7136 toll free or go to osb.k12.okay.us.
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