[Cinci-nfb] ohio Braille Challenge 2018 is finally here.

[Lisa Hall]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to write an email to say that today on March 2, 2018 
Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired is hosting our 
2nd year of the Braille Challenge. At present there are approximately 
32 participants who signed up for this competition. I hope that some 
members in our area will have some time to help man the NFB table while 
the competition is going on. The opening ceremony starts at 9:30 A.M. 
and the first contest starts at 10:30 A.M. The last contest will end at 
2:30 P.M. The younger kids finishes the competition first around 1:45 
P.M. There will be activities for the kids while scorers and graders 
are finishing going through all of the tests. We plan to have the 
closing ceremony around 3:00 P.M. or 3:15 P.M.  We will announce the 
winners and give out prizes for the kids. I will post the winners as 
soon as I get it in writing when it is published.

The opening and closing ceremony will be in the main building in the 
Community Room. The competition is held in the main building on both 
floors of our facility. The hospitality will be in the Proctor Center 
and that is where our NFB literatures will be available. Deanna Lewis 
is in charge of the table.

Clovernook is located at 7000 Hamilton Avenue in Cincinnati, Ohio. Our 
zip code is 45231.

I'm excited about the progress that is being made to change what it 
means to be blind and be literate in braille. It is my hope that we can 
increase the literacy rate back to what it was back in the 1960s.

I will be assisting Chris Faust in reading the mayor proclamation for 
the Braille Challenge as well as leading in the pledge of Allegiance. 
In addition I will be assisting proctors in the testing rooms on 
electronic equipment for the audio portion of the contest. The Ohio 
Library for the Blind loaned us 19 Victor Reader Streams to use in the contest.

Clovernook is working in cooperation with Braille Institute of America 
that provides the tests for the kids. The results of the contest is 
sent to Braille Institute. Last year we had 1 participant who was 
invited to the National competition in Los Angeles, California in June 2017.

We will see if anyone gets invited to enter in the National Competition 
in June 2018.

If you like to learn more about the Braille Challenge, go to 
www.braillechallenge.org or www.clovernook.org. You can also find both 
organizations on Facebook as well.

Stay tune for the results in a few weeks.

Sincerely,

Lisa Hall