Miller ready for Braille Challenge
ADAMS TWP — When Griffin Miller sets a goal, everyone else better look out.
Griffin, a Mars freshman, made it into the final Braille Challenge competition as a young child. His goal since has been to make it to finals every year.
“Eight down and three to go!,” Griffin said Wednesday.
The Braille Institute's Braille Challenge is a two-stage academic competition designed to motivate blind and visually impaired students in kindergarten through 12th grade to emphasize their study of Braille.
This year's competition was staged in 46 locations throughout the United States and Canada and conducted by teachers of visually impaired students.
More than 1,100 students took the test this year, and 10 were selected from each of the five age groups to travel to Los Angeles in June for the final competition.
Griffin has been blind since birth as a result of Leber's congenital amaurosis, which is an inherited retinal degenerative disease.
The cheerful ninth-grader manages very well using a cane to get around school and other places and using a Braille Note to email and use the Internet.
“He's pretty independent,” said his mother, Rachel Miller.
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