COURIER L 6 IFE, JULY 5-11, 2019 PS
WELL DONE: Students proceed to the stage during their graduation from the HKSB
Children’s Learning Center. Photos by Caroline Ourso
Top of the class
Pre-schoolers graduate from
Downtown school for the blind
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
More than a dozen pre-schoolers
graduated from a Downtown school
for the blind on June 21.
The 16 pint-sized scholars accepted
diplomas from Helen Keller
Services for the Blind’s Children’s
Learning Center, donning tiny caps
and gowns as teary-eyed moms and
dads cheered them on at National
Grid’s MetroTech Center auditorium,
according to the organization’s
chief.
“They were excited, they were
engaged — they really were delightful,
energetic and ready to embrace
what comes next,” said Kim Zimmer,
president and chief executive
officer at Helen Keller Services.
The graduates persevered
through blindness and other disabilities
to achieve scholastic success,
according to Zimmer.
Prospect Lefferts Gardens graduate
Miguel Rodriguez has a complicated
medical history, and was
unable to walk when he enrolled
at the Livingstone Street school in
2017. He’s since outgrown his wheelchair,
and now lives to run, Zimmer
said.
His peer Kevin Chen was born
with severe loss of vision and limited
peripheral vision due to suffering
from Leber Congenital
Teachers proudly looked on as the kids, donning
pint-sized cap and gown, celebrated
their graduation.
Amaurosis, an inherited retinal degenerative
disease.
The Bensonhurst boy is now able
to read large print books and can
identify colors. He’s since learned
to move independently and safely,
and he will attend Bay Ridge elementary
school PS 102 in the fall.
Teaching the pupils independence
for their specific situation is
key to Helen Keller’s mission, according
to Zimmer.
“A degree of social skills, a level
of independence that may be unique
to them but is specific to them at
their life stage,” she said.