Aiden Holsinger, a seventh grader, and others participated in the national Braille competition at Western Pennsylvania School for the Blind. The competition allows students to do different skills involving braille. These challenges include not just reading braille, but also spelling, speed, accuracy, and reading comprehension. Aiden did a phenomenal job in reading comprehension, proofreading, and also chart/graph challenges. In these challenges, Aiden won second place.
The competition includes an inclusive diversity of different ages. Ages include the youngest of even five years of age. Younger kids were to do challenges with learning with their fingers to gather information. Younger kids even also played with board games and educational blocks for tactical writing. Older students participating did other different things for the challenges. Older students used braillers or braille writers, which is a technology used to produce braille dots.
Everyone wore special, vivid colorful shirts designed for the annual event. The shirts also included lined dots with “WPSBC 2025”. The competition had 35 different local Western Pennsylvania school districts participating in it.
“Aiden and some friends traveled to Pittsburgh to participate in a national braille challenge. Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children was a regional host site for the big event and where Aiden competed. Aiden competed in several mini challenges all in braille! Aiden shined in the reading comprehension, proofreading, and charts/graphs challenges!” stated Ms. Lindsay McCloskey, vision specialist and teacher.
Everyone in the school district is extremely proud of Aiden for competing and winning second place in the challenges that he participated in. We hope to see Aiden compete in these challenges in the following years, and do well, if not better.
