Fingers fly at regional Braille Challenge

The eight high school students in the media center were setting up their areas for an intense academic competition when a girl from Denver raised her head and said: “So who else is in here?”

The students knew from rustling sounds and voices that they weren’t alone. But in a Braille speed and accuracy contest, most can’t “see” their competition.

“Oh, Hannah, hi,” she said as she recognized the voice of a girl she’d met last summer.

Greetings echoed around the room, along with some exclamations over those who were seniors.

Then, it was down to business.

Tape recorders set and head phones on, the group started with a five-minute warm up. Then came the 25-minute contest, with fingers flying over the keys on the manual Braille writers and occasionally touching the paper to feel for accuracy as they transcribed the audio recording onto Braille paper.

The group was among 35 competitors Friday at a regional Braille Challenge at the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind.

The students competed in three or four activities, depending on their age group, and will be ranked against other regional competitors across the country, said Randy Witte, event organizer and Braille teacher at the school. The top 12 students nationally in each age group are invited to a national competition at the Braille Institute in California.

“This is an opportunity for these students to compete and show their skills,” he said, noting that two of Friday’s competitors in Colorado Springs had previously been to the national event.

One of them is Juliana Trunfio, 11, a student at Centennial Academy of Fine Arts.

“This helps me with my skills and I see how much I know in Braille,” she said shortly after completing a test reading charts and graphs.

Juliana said she lost her sight at age 5 and began learning Braille in kindergarten.

Casey Schueler, 13, said her Braille instruction began in preschool and she loves to read and write.

“It helps us be a part of society,” she said. “It’s a way for us to read.”

A sixth-grader at the school for the blind, Casey said she has written a couple of children’s books in Braille and is working on her autobiography.

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