8-year-old Tucker Resident Takes First Place in National Braille Competition

“Can you speak into the recorder and tell me what you’re wearing and what you look like?” asks eight-year-old Kendra Holloway; blind since infancy, this is her way of making acquaintances.

Kendra, a resident of Tucker, recently won first place in her age group in the National Braille Competition. Hosted by the Braille Institute, the competition is comprised of both reading and spelling portions; contestants who complete each section in the shortest amount of time with the most correct answers win. Students must first compete at the regional level and once they have placed are invited to Los Angeles, California to compete in the national competition.

This year was Kendra’s second time participating in the competition; last year she came in second at the regional level. Emboldened by her previous success, she decided to try out again this year. In addition to the title and trophies, she was given a $1,000 savings bond and a PacMate computer, which can be connected to any desktop computer and allow the user to type and read what is on the screen.

Kendra first learned to read braille at the age of three and is currently in the gifted program at Hawthorne Elementary School, where she is a rising third grader. When not competing, Kendra enjoys swimming lessons, reading the Harry Potter book series and watching movies like Toy Story.  

“She’s very popular,” said Stephanie Kieszak-Holloway, Kendra’s mother. “She has this ability to meet people and she always has. She just goes right up to them and starts talking.”

Kendra’s list of friends and acquaintances has included everyone from a girl “with two puffs and a cool hairdo” at day camp to professional astronomers at the Fernbank Science Center. On a visit to Fernbank Holloway’s curious nature earned a trip to the backroom of the science center, where she was allowed to listen to her voice over the loud speaker in the planetarium.

“She loves recorders,” said Richard Holloway, Kendra’s father. “She loves to record everything and then listen back to it later.” On a trip to Florida for the National Federation of the Blind Convention, Holloway met a panelist who creates braille and audio books for the blind. She and Kendra struck up a friendship and in a few weeks the two will be collaborating on an audio book for blind children.

With such an impressive list of accomplishments, Kendra's future plans are more simplistic.

"I want to have a play date with my friend from camp," said Kendra. "I also really want to see the new Harry Potter movie."