Westford Student Wins Regional Braille Challenge

WESTFORD, MA — A Westford teen won the New England Regional Braille Challenge earlier this month in his grade category.

Alan Quan, 14, of Westford was the top scorer in the “junior varsity” category at the 20th annual New England Regional Braille Challenge on Feb. 1, at The Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton, the center announced this week.

The competition, a national program of the Braille Institute, encourages blind and visually impaired children in grates 1 to 12 to hone their braille skills which are essential to success in the sighted world.

The Braille Challenge is two phases: The first phase is the regionals. From February to March, there are 53 regionals across North America during which close to 1,600 students compete.

The top 50 students (10 in each category) with the highest scores across North America are then invited to the annual Braille Challenge Finals competition in Los Angeles, held on the campus of the University of Southern California on June 26 and 27.

In about two months, once results are back from across the country, Alan will find out if he will go on to finals in California.

Alan is a student in the Westford Public School system, but has attended many summer programs at the Carroll Center.