On February 25, we welcomed 22 students and their families to the 2017 Northern California Regional Braille Challenge at the LightHouse headquarters. It was a lively day packed with speeches by keynote speakers, testing for students, parent workshops, games and a final award ceremony (complete with a surprise musical performance by a group of contestants).
Hosted in collaboration with Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, California School for the Blind and Braille Institute of America, the Regional Braille Challenge is the first leg of a two-part contest for K-12 youth who read braille. It is designed to encourage and reward students for fine-tuning their braille reading and writing skills.
Any parent or student on Saturday would tell you that Braille Challenge is an unparalleled platform for promoting braille literacy and bringing braille readers of all ages into one space — whether as contestants or judges. It’s also a chance for kids to connect with their blind friends, chuckle about inside jokes, and for parents to learn more about having a child with vision loss and how best to support them (hint from one of our college panelists: “Don’t shelter them!”)
Braille Challenge is not about winning (though we don’t mind a little friendly competition) but we’d like to recognize the students who placed!
Here are the winners of each level of competition. Once all of the Braille Challenge regionals are complete the Braille Institute will invite the top 10% of all of the students that competed in all of the various regionals to the national Braille Challenge later this year.
2017 Northern California Regional Braille Challenge Winners
Apprentice 1. Miles Lima 2. Darren Ou 3. Mikey Diaz
Find a selection of photos from the day-long event below!
Four children stand in line before the 2017 Northern California Regional Braille Challenge opening procession.The young competitors wait in line before the festivities start.A closeup of a student’s festive and sparkly red high-tops, with canes visible in the background.Braille Challenge competitors Avery and Darren sit in the front row listening to opening remarks.Braille challenge competitors Darren and Mikey sit together before the competition begins.A shot of the audience shows the kids laughing and one competitor playfully covering her face.Competitor Kaitlyn holds her little sister’s hand and leads her to her seat in the LightHouse multipurpose rooms.Competitors Rasheed and Teresa sit listening to the day’s opening remarks.Senior Director of Programs Scott Blanks claps as competitor Nikki enters the main events room (smiling, as usual).92-year-old Cathy Skivers gives her opening remarks about the importance of braille literacy.Competitor Miles gets some last minute moral support from his mom before heading into the testing rooms.A close-up of Cathy Skivers’ braille notes perched in her lap.Youth services coordinator Jamey Gump stands in the LightHouse pre-function area speaking to a parent.The apprentice sit in front of their braillers in the 11th Floor Kitchen getting ready for testing to start.The Freshman competitors and their proctors sit at a table together in the LightHouse fitness studio.College-age students Sergio Lopez-Hernandez, Julie J Bird, Nasir Iqbal and Iman Award offer advice to parents during a panel at Braille Challenge. The main takeaway? “Don’t shelter your kids.”Competitor Rasheed sits typing at his brailler with headphones in. He is silhouetted against large windows that show the buildings of San Francisco in the background.Sophomore competitor Luke wears headphones while completing the speed and accuracy portion of the Braille Challenge.A pink-cheeked Teresa Liu types away at her Perkins Brailler during the spelling portion of the 2017 Braille Challenge. She competed at the Freshman level.A closeup of the brailled Braille Challenge medals.LightHouse employee BJ Epstein helps check the kids’ tests behind the scenes.A stack of freshly brailled tests.Apprentice competitor Avery leans closer to her brailler and furrows her brow intently.Junior Varsity competitor Ethan works on the graphs and charts portion of the test.Junior Varsity competitor Kaitlyn reads a braille chart. She is wearing a royal blue tracksuit that nicely matches her royal blue brailler.Another Junior Varsity tester is deep in concentration during the test.Sophomore competitors in the 11th floor conference room at the LightHouse. Natural light streams onto them through the large window.Friends and family wait on the 11th floor couches for testers to finish up.Sophomore competitors are hard at work in the 11th Floor Craft Room.Competitor Avery poses with her smiling family, who made shirts that say “Team Avery Bravery” in braille on the front and in text on the back.Youth Services Coordinator Richie Flores and guest speaker Caitlin Hernandez works with Sophomore competitor Alejandro in the craft room before testing.Apprentice competitor Miles feels proctor Donna’s braille embossed bracelet.Competitor Rasheed sits next to his dad, who rests a loving hand on his head while speaking to him.A crowd of students, parents and community members play a game after the testing is over.Junior Varsity Competitor Monse smiles while holding her cane and a braille notetaker.A shot of the crowd in their seats — with two students chatting up front.Stuart (formerly of California School for the Blind) and proctor Donna sit close while listening to closing remarks.Sisters Maryam and Mariyah giggle while playing a game after the competition is over.A competitor’s little sister walks holding her dad’s hand.Sophomore competitor Alejandro sits next to his little sister in the multipurpose rooms.A yellow lab on duty lays on the floor and turns its head to look directly into the camera.Varsity competitor Alexia sits up front in the LightHouse multipurpose rooms, holding her braille notetakerCollege-age panelist Nasir grabs a handful of braille fortune cookies.Competitor Darren sits on a piano bench with his dad and little sister reading his braille fortune from a fortune cookie. The message? “Never give up.”
Click here for our cleaning product safety data sheets (SDS) and ingredient information.
