Fairfield student finalist in Braille reading challenge

Khanh Tran started learning Braille a year and a half ago.

Now, he’s a finalist in the Braille Challenge, a competition that brings together visually impaired students from across the U.S. and Canada to test their Braille reading and writing skills.

Khanh, 7, is a first-grade student at Washington Elementary School in Fairfield.

His parents and teachers say he is a fast learner — his family came to Fairfield from Vietnam two and a half years ago so his father, Bao Tran, could study at Maharishi International University.

Khanh quickly learned English at school, and is on his way to becoming trilingual — he’s working on studying Spanish this summer.

Khanh is blind, the result of a glaucoma that left him blind in one eye by the age of 2 and blind in both a year later.

He practices his Braille at home reading books from the library and writing on his Perkins Brailler, a machine that allows the user to type in Braille.

Khanh is eager to show off his first-place medal from the Iowa Braille Challenge, which earned him a spot in the national competition in the apprentice division, which includes first-and-second graders.

“This time — the second time — I’ve got to work super hard on reading and writing,” Khanh said.

The Top 10 highest scorers from the state Braille Challenge’s move on to nationals. In a typical year, the competition would be held in-person, but students will compete remotely with proctors this year due to the pandemic.

“I’m ready for the Braille Challenge. I’m excited to learn,” Khanh said. “But I’m really very nervous to lose.”

Khanh is one of two students from Iowa participating in the Braille Challenge finals.

Around 1,100 contestants take part in the competition each year, and 50 advanced to the final round.

Maria Jimenez, a teaching assistant at Washington Elementary School, has been working with Khanh since he was in kindergarten.

She said Khanh is an excellent student.

“I’m just pretty much his eyes. He is brilliant,” she said. “He is able to understand and able to do pretty much anything.”

Jimenez is teaching Khanh Spanish over the summer. He developed an interest in learning the language after hearing Jimenez converse in Spanish with another student in his class.

“He’s the type of person that can see in the future — he’ll say something … ‘This will definitely help me in the future,’” Jimenez said. “He wants to be a car designer so being trilingual means he definitely has potential.”

When Khan isn’t working on practicing Braille or studying Spanish, he loves cars.

Khan’s father, Bao Tran, said he is impressed how far Khan has coming learning Braille in a short time.

“We’re excited because this is the first time he’s tried to participate in a contest,” Tran said. “From our expectation — we don’t expect high. He can do anything wants. Anything he wants, we try to support him.”