Collinsville ninth-grader earns prize in challenge
Posted: Sunday, April 5, 2015 2:15 pm | OwassoReporter.com
MUSKOGEE — Collinsville ninth-grader Holly Felkins earned a second place award in the junior varsity category at the Oklahoma Regional Braille Challenge.
Felkins is an OSB student.
Eighteen students from Oklahoma competed in the academic contest, which measured students’ proficiency in braille reading and comprehension, speed and accuracy, spelling, proofreading and tactile graphics.
The challenge is a national program sponsored by the Braille Institute, a nonprofit organization that eliminates barriers caused by blindness and severe sight loss.
“Sixty of the top scoring competitors in the U.S. will advance to the Braille Challenge Finals in Los Angeles this June,” said OSB teacher Faye Miller, who directed braille experts in scoring the competitors’ tests.
“We hope that some of our contestants will have an opportunity to compete at that level.”
About 18,000 Oklahomans are legally blind, while more than 116,000 have vision difficulties, according to 2010 U.S. Census data.
For more information about the Oklahoma School for the Blind, phone (877) 229-7136 toll free or visit osb.k12.ok.us.
