ACTOR DANNY GLOVER PRESENTS AWARD TO CHULA VISTA, CA RESIDENT AT NYC GALA, 4/30
Student who is Blind Honored for Academic Achievement
PRINCETON, NJ (April 30, 2001) - Award-winning actor Danny Glover presented Chula Vista, CA resident Michelle Bruns with the prestigious Mary P. Oenslager Scholastic Achievement Award (SAA) at Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic's (RFB&D) National Achievement Awards gala tonight at the Essex House in New York City. RFB&D (www.rfbd.org) is the largest national nonprofit organization providing taped textbooks to students of all ages who cannot effectively read standard print because of a disability including visual impairment, dyslexia or another physical disability.
Bruns is one of three top winners of a $6,000 national SAA. The awards are presented annually to blind college seniors who have demonstrated superior scholarship, leadership, enterprise and service to others.
A member of RFB&D since 1990, she has borrowed about 130 books. Bruns, a graduate of New Mexico School for the Visually Handicapped in Alamogordo, NM, graduated from University of Mary Hardin - Baylor in Belten, TX in May, 2000 with a 3.85 GPA and a major in social work/minor in sociology. At the university, she was a member of Pi Gamma Mu and Gamma Beta Phi academic societies and earned numerous scholarships. Listed in Who's Who Among American College Students, Bruns also was an intern at Southland Villa Nursing Home, a college newspaper journalist and has been involved in student government, holding the offices of president and secretary. In addition, she has held leadership positions on various cheerleading, dance and gymnastics squads and teams. When she first became blind, Bruns was uncertain about her future.
"The thought of using a cane/guide dog, adaptive equipment and admitting that I was blind absolutely horrified me," she admits. Bruns acknowledges that technology is "a wonderful innovation that has allowed blind persons more access to printed materials." But, she says, "in my opinion, nothing is better than a textbook on tape. Not only can one be mobile with the material that must be read, but also textbooks on tape allow students, such as myself, to be more flexible, similar to my sighted colleagues who can carry their books and journal around with them. "RFB&D's service has given me the ability to concentrate on learning and absorbing material rather than worrying about how I will read printed books. Because this burden has been lifted off me, and placed on RFB&D, my entire college career has been improved."
Bruns' career aspiration as an advocate and lobbyist for needy children stemmed from her congressional internship with Christopher J. Dodd and work with the subcommittee on families and children in Washington, D.C. She is presently pursuing a master's degree in social work at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. Bruns is also writing a fictional novel addressing issues faced by blind teenagers. "My dream is to get this novel published, so that more people can be educated about issues pertaining to blindness. I hope that this book will clear away some of the negative stereotypes and the web of misconception that society has woven about blind people."
Nationwide, RFB&D has over 91,000 members in kindergarten through graduate school and beyond, including more than 8,300 students in California. RFB&D taped textbooks are read and recorded by more than 5,700 highly trained volunteers working in 32 studios around the country, including studios in Carpinteria, El Segundo, Hollywood, Reseda, Palo Alto, Santa Barbara, Upland and Santa Ana, CA. RFB&D's master library in Princeton, NJ, houses over 83,000 textbook titles in every subject and grade level. Last year, RFB&D circulated a quarter of a million accessible textbooks among its members.
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