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