FIRST
SCHOLARSHIPS HANDED OUT TO
SIX DESERVING STUDENTS
(Santa Barbara) - The
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic in Santa Barbara held its
First Scholarship Awards Luncheon at Noon on Saturday, July 9th,
2005 at the Red Cross Building (State and Alamar Streets). Scholarships
valued at $1,000 each were presented to six deserving students
from Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. Each of the scholarship
winners has a learning disability that makes reading and comprehending
the printed word a serious challenge. All of the recipients are
currently in high school or will be entering high school in the
fall. Each scholarship consists of four years of free membership
to RFB&D's Learning Through Listening audio textbook program
and a special playback device.
Scholarship winners are (pictured left to right) Joseph Colunga
(Goleta), Veronica Flores (Nipomo), Britney Ohnstad-Healy (Nipomo),
Ashley Martinez (Santa Maria), Kallie Stolz (Arroyo Grande) and
Corie Whyte (Arroyo Grande).
"I
hope to be great, but that doesn't mean I can't have some help
along the way," exclaimed Britney Ohnstad-Healy upon receiving
her award. "I believe that using the recorded books of RFB&D
will be a huge benefit in my many areas of my life. Thank you."
Entering her sophomore year of high school, Britney says she is
just taking it a day at a time, wanting to do well in school.
"Using an audio textbook on CD really helps you understand
what you read with Braille," said Joseph Colunga who has
been blind since birth. "Maybe RFB&D's books will even
let me read ahead of the other students in class." Joseph's
career goal is to enter law enforcement.
Corie Whyte says she thinks her RFB&D opportunity is just
great and is excited she "will be able to learn more and
have more help with her homework." Corie plans to attend
the University of Hawaii when she graduates from high school.
Kallie Stolz has had several surgeries that have
affected her vision and reading skills. Her plan upon graduating
from high school next year is to take the tests that will qualify
her for a community college. "It's (her scholarship) going
to help me in a big way," she says. "Thanks, RFB&D."
Intermediate and high school teachers in Santa Barbara and San
Luis Obispo counties nominated twelve candidates for the RFB&D
scholarships based on criteria provided by RFB&D's Santa Barbara
Unit. The Unit's Educational Outreach Committee and staff selected
the six winners. Money for the scholarships totaling $6,000 was
raised by the Santa Barbara Unit's 250 weekly volunteers during
its 10th annual "Record-A-Thon" last April. Record-A-Thon
is the organization's annual open house where South and Central
Coast residents come to the RFB&D studios in Goleta to join
in reading textbooks for those who are blind, dyslexic or are
experiencing some other difficulty with reading the printed word.
RFB&D is currently serving 300 individual students and two-dozen
schools with its audio textbook program in Santa Barbara, San
Luis Obispo and Kern counties - the Santa Barbara Unit's service
area. "But that's the tip of the iceberg," says Tim
Owens the Santa Barbara Unit's executive director. "It is
estimated there may be as many as 6,000 students in these three
counties with print disabilities who might benefit from RFB&D.
We're going to try and reach them all."
Founded in 1976, the Santa Barbara Unit of the Recording for the
Blind and Dyslexic is a volunteer driven, donor-supported organization
whose vision is for all people to have equal access to the printed
word. The organization's weekly volunteers in Santa Barbara, together
with thousands of other volunteers in twenty-one other Units nationwide,
create audio versions of textbooks and other educational materials
for individuals with visual, perceptual or physical disabilities.
These textbooks are housed at RFB&D's 100,000 volume central
library in Princeton, NJ -- the largest of its kind in the world
-- and distributed to an increasing number of students and schools
both locally and nationally. The Santa Barbara Unit must raise
its own operating revenue and receives no financial help from
its headquarters in Princeton. The national organization was founded
in 1948.
The ability to read and comprehend with RFB&D's Learning Through
Listening textbook program has been shown to improve test scores
and grades. According to a study in 2003 by Johns Hopkins University,
students using RFB&D audio books for as little as 30 minutes
per day demonstrated an improvement of 38% in reading comprehension.
With RFB&D at their side, students develop more confidence
in their ability to learn and, consequently, may have a better
opportunity to be more successful and productive citizens.
For more information about the Santa Barbara Unit of Recording
for the Blind and Dyslexic, please contact Tim Owens, Executive
Director, at 805-681-0531 or email towens@rfbd.org.
Or, go the website at www.rfbd.org.
Recording for the Blind
& Dyslexic®
Santa Barbara Unit
Contact: Tim Owens,
Executive Director
(805) 681-0531
towens@rfbd.org
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