The Council recognizes the importance and the value of education for people who are blind or visually impaired.

This is evidenced in our programs and presentations, our advocacy for accessible educational materials for post-secondary students, and our funding of scholarships for students in college and vocational school programs.

This year, we awarded seven $1,500 and two $1,000 scholarships for full-time students in college and vocational school programs.

At our recent Annual Awards and Scholarship Banquet, we presented scholarships to: Imran Ahmed, Hina Altaf, Rebecca Arrowood, Mei-Ling Felten, Quinn Haberl, Blair Seidlitz, Nick Sinram, Richard Warner and Meghan Whalen (see photo above).

Applicants must be high school graduates or returning students, carrying a full load of classes as defined by the institution they will be attending, and have a cumulative GPA of at least 2.5.

All applicants must have identified goals for the future, including eventual employment. All applicants must include verification of vision impairment in a signed form from their eye care professional.

Here are a few excerpts from letters of recommendation we received for the scholarship recipients:

“Mei-Ling has the potential to reach her musical goals—to be an outstanding player. She twice won the State of Wisconsin Special Merit Award for piano performance at the state contest level. Not many students are able to reach this level of attainment—even without the challenges Mei-Ling faces.”

“What impresses me most about Blair is his passion in both school and community. He has taken several advanced placement classes, including French, calculus and chemistry, and he was involved in Science Seminar, a course in which students participate in several independent, in-depth research projects. Blair is also a member of the school’s tennis team.”

“Meghan’s peers sought her out for help and understanding of content as well as for social talk. I know she really helped one of the weaker students to get through the class to a degree that I’m not sure even Meghan recognizes….Many of her classmates reflected on how much she had helped them, not only with the information related to the class, but also in achieving a new perspective on disability and living with a disability in our society just by virtue of her being such a ‘normal’ class member.”

“Facing two enormous challenges—being blind and traveling here all the way from Pakistan, both Hina and Imran have now successfully completed their first three semesters at Carroll College in excellent shape, and they’re off to a great start for their fourth semester….They have delightful personalities, are good communicators and are easy to work with, and they can be seen making their way around campus regularly with no problems.”

We celebrate the courage, creativity and perseverance of all our scholarship recipients, and we can’t wait to hear about their future educational, professional and personal accomplishments!