Ten- year- old Carmynn Blakeley is the 2019 reigning national champion, in her age group, for the National Braille Challenge. On this day she’s in Louisville to compete in the 10th annual Kentucky Regional Braille Challenge where she’ll put her braille skills to the test. “Braille makes everything easier to read and it’s a lot accessible and it feels good on my hands,” said Blakeley.
The energetic 5th grader from Owensboro is wearing a blonde ponytail with a silvery-white bow. She’s been completely blind since birth and started learning braille at age four. Blakeley will compete in categories such as reading comprehension and spelling. This year she’s facing two new categories in the competition, speed and accuracy and charts and graphs. “At first I was like what the heck is charts and graphs, I don’t understand. And then we started studying it last night and we studied yesterday at school and I studied in the car this morning and I was like, I got this,” said Blakeley.
Excitement builds as Blakeley and 37 other students file onto the stage in the auditorium at the Kentucky School for the Blind for a pre-competition pep-rally. Parents, friends, and teachers cheer and shake noisemakers as they root the kids on.
Jane Thompson with the American Printing House for the Blind, which sponsors the competition along with the Kentucky School for the Blind, said braille is literacy. “You can give a student a recording of something but that’s not going to tell them what words are capitalized, where the commas are, where the periods are. That’s not literacy just having something read to them. Literacy is when you can put your hands on the page, read every word, learn to spell those words because you’re feeling every bump for those words,” explained Thompson.
Regional competitions are being hosted in the United States and Canada. The event is part of the Braille Institute’s National Braille Challenge Program. This is Carmynn Blakeley’s 5th time competing. Blakeley’s mom, Rebecca Brown, said, along with being the 2019 national champion in her age group, Carmynn also won the best national speller of all age groups last year. People ask Brown if she pressures her daughter to win.
“Just like today I’ll tell her, Carmynn, I’m very proud of you for everything you’ve done even getting to come to this and let’s just have fun and this is a great experience. And making those connections and the friends she’ll have for life. And she loves all of that but she says, “But I want to win.” I say, okay honey but if you don’t that’s fine as long as you do the best you can,” said Brown.
The competition is designed to reward students who are blind, for their study of braille. Meg Stone, retired outreach director and teacher at the Kentucky School for the Blind is demonstrating a braille writer. It’s similar to an old fashioned typewriter and it’s what students use for this competition. “ Braille is still so important to these kids. It’s their way to get knowledge in the world and not just through audio. It’s a completely different set of skills when you read and write instead of just listen. It’s so exciting and we have had national champions from this group. I’ve known some of these kids since they were three years old,” said Stone.
After a long day of competing the students gather at round tables in the Kentucky School for the Blind’s dining hall where they receive goody bags and cookies while they wait patiently for the awards ceremony. Carmynn Blakeley is sitting next to her mom and cheering as each winning name is called. Her group is referred to as the Sophomores. Jane Thompson announces the third and second place winners. Carmynn is waiting to hear the first place winner.” And in the Sophomore category, first place and 100 dollars go to….. Miss Carmynn Blakeley,”announced Thompson.
Carmynn said she is “Super happy.”
The National Braille Challenge takes place at the University of Southern California in June.? Students from all regional events will be invited to participate if they are the top scorers.
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