The Freedom Scientific Student of the Month program features K-12 students living in the U.S. who are blind or visually impaired and use Freedom Scientific technology to achieve educational goals. The Student of the Month for August 2021 is Emerie, a tenth grader from Hawaii.
Emerie began using JAWS at the end of 8th grade and the Focus 40 Braille Display the following year. She said she uses the Focus the most for algebra and Spanish homework. “The braille display helps me with Spanish because it lets me physically read the words so I can pronounce them how they are written.”
Emerie likes using Picture Smart and OCR because these features of JAWS enable her to read documents that contain text in an image that is not accessible. “I try not to get those documents, but those features are really useful when I’m in a pinch and I need to read them.”
Emerie also uses the JAWS automatic language detection feature when reading text in different languages on the internet. “This feature is pretty nice when the text on the web page is correctly labeled by the person who created it.”
After graduating from high school, Emerie wants to pursue a career in biochemistry, microbiology, or a related field. In her spare time, Emery enjoys conducting scientific research. She previously bred chickens and is extremely knowledgeable about the science involved in raising them. “If I didn’t have FS products, JAWS especially, I probably wouldn’t be doing well in school right now.”
Learn more about Emerie in this short video.
Nominate a Student
Complete our nomination form to self-nominate or nominate a student. Visit the Freedom Scientific Student of the Month page for the details. Have questions? Send an email to training@vispero.com.