[Nfbc-info] LightHouse Will Host the 2017 Braille Challenge for Northern California

[LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired]

The Braille Challenge is an international competition in which braille readers compete to be the Olympians of blind literacy. Starting this month, blind and low vision students across the United States and Canada will begin clattering away on braillers and slates as they compete in a series of contests demonstrating braille reading and comprehension, speed and accuracy, spelling, proofreading, and tactile graphics, as they compete for thousands of dollars in prizes.

As part of the 2017 Braille Challenge, the LightHouse in San Francisco is proud to announce that our new headquarters will host the regional Challenge for Northern California. This preliminary round is open to students grades K through 12 of all skills levels, and the top-scoring 50 contestants nationally will be invited to Los Angeles in June for a two-day Final Round.

On February 25, students and their parents are invited to join us for a full day of braille events. The day will kick off with a guest speaker who will get the participants pumped up about braille and discuss the benefits of learning and practicing braille for future academic and employment success. Then the students will be let loose to compete. While students are showing off their braille-reading chops, parents and family members will have the chance to attend a series of workshops with presenters who will provide resources and information about further opportunities to encourage literacy, independence and self-confidence.

They will also have a chance to see the dozens of braille-related tools and devices carried by the LightHouse Adaptations<http://lighthouse-sf.org/shop/> store, many available nowhere else in the region.

This year, The Braille Challenge will be held at 46 different sites and proctored by up to 80 individual teachers of visually impaired students from across the US and Canada. Any visually impaired student who reads braille is eligible to participate in the preliminary Challenge contest events. Each contestant receives a brailled certificate of appreciation and general feedback on their performance, which will be sent to families and educators in May.

A big thank you to Junior Blind of Northern California and the Vista Center for co-presenting this event with us.

The Northern California Braille Challenge
Who: Blind and low vision braille readers, grades K-12
When: 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., February 25, 2016
Where: LightHouse Headquarters
1155 Market St., San Francisco, CA 94103

Registration Deadline: Friday, January 27, 2016

Registration is now open: 2017 Braille Challenge

Download the Northern California
Braille Challenge Registration Form.<http://3p76s62sopuo2hcrwa1rxucp.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/BC-2017_N-California_Permission-Form-002.pdf>

The deadline to register for the Challenge is January 27, 2017. To register for the event please fill out and return the 2017 Permission Form<http://3p76s62sopuo2hcrwa1rxucp.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/BC-2017_N-California_Permission-Form-002.pdf>. This form can be filled out digitally and sent via email to jgump at lighthouse-sf.org<mailto:jgump at lighthouse-sf.org> or mailed by post to LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Attn: James Gump, 1155 Market St., 10th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103.

For questions or to register for the event contact Jamey Gump, LightHouse Youth Services Coordinator, at jgump at lighthouse-sf.org<mailto:jgump at lighthouse-sf.org> or call 415-694-7372.



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