By Ryan Trares | Daily Journal
For The Republic
EDINBURGH — A competition of this magnitude required some brain food.
Over four grueling hours, Emma Stamper answered question after question testing her reading comprehension, spelling and overall mastery of braille. The 8-year-old Edinburgh resident had to spell a list of increasingly difficult words, read a passage and then answer questions about it, and proofread a series of sentences, searching for and correcting the errors.
Breaks were limited. But when she could stop, she popped a few pieces of sushi for quick energy.
“I ate all of it before the test was over. Every now and then we’d take a break, and I’d eat a piece. It helped me,” she said.
The strategy worked — on top of all of her hard work and practice, of course. Emma won first place in her age group at the Braille Challenge, a national competition testing the individuals on reading and writing braille. She also took home the Excellence in Spelling award over all age groups.
For the complete story and more photos, see Thursday’s Republic.
