Brianna Murray, a 10th grade violin major at The Charleston School of the Arts, has qualified for the National Braille Challenge Finals in Los Angeles, California. She is the only student in South Carolina to ever make it to the Braille Finals and this is her third time qualifying.
This year, Brianna qualified through South Carolina’s First Annual Regional Braille Challenge, held in Columbia in February, at the South Carolina State Library. The National Braille Challenge is open to any Braille reader in the United States or Canada. It is a two-stage academic contest designed to motivate school-age Braille readers to excel in this vital medium. Only 12 students in her age group from all 50 states and Canada were selected to participate in the finals based upon preliminary testing. In California, she will go through a battery of tests including interpreting Braille graphs and charts, Braille reading speed and comprehension, dictation, speed and accuracy, and proof-reading Braille text.
This is tremendous honor for Brianna, Charleston County Schools and South Carolina. She will be representing the Charleston County School District and South Carolina in a national arena. Brianna is an outstanding student and because of Brianna’s participation in the Braille Challenge, the South Carolina Regional Braille Challenge was organized. According to Outz, “We will be wonderfully represented by Brianna’s participation in the only national event of this kind in California on June 20, 2009.”
The Braille Challenge is sponsored in part by the South Carolina State Library’s Talking Book Services (TBS). For more information about TBS, visit www.statelibrary.sc.gov. For more information about the Braille Challenge, contact Kathryn Ouzts, South Carolina Regional Braille Challenge Chairman, Kathryn_Ouzts@charleston.k12.sc.us or 843-345-5787.
This is tremendous honor for Brianna, Charleston County Schools and South Carolina. She will be representing the Charleston County School District and South Carolina in a national arena. Brianna is an outstanding student and because of Brianna’s participation in the Braille Challenge, the South Carolina Regional Braille Challenge was organized. According to Outz, “We will be wonderfully represented by Brianna’s participation in the only national event of this kind in California on June 20, 2009.”
The Braille Challenge is sponsored in part by the South Carolina State Library’s Talking Book Services (TBS). For more information about TBS, visit www.statelibrary.sc.gov. For more information about the Braille Challenge, contact Kathryn Ouzts, South Carolina Regional Braille Challenge Chairman, Kathryn_Ouzts@charleston.k12.sc.us or 843-345-5787.
