WSFA 12 News Montgomery, AL |Elmore County Graduate Makes Academic Accomplishments

Elmore County Graduate Makes Academic Accomplishments

"When I started here I got lost. I have a cane; so I go around with a cane," says Maria Smith. She's blind, but that hasn't kept her from graduating seventh in her class at Elmore County High School (ECHS); with a four point zero four grade average.

Maria says, "I would've died if I got a 'C'. I had problems getting 'B's until I realized I just was going to have to live with it, so I did."

Maria has a portable machine with a braille keyboard for taking notes in class. Anita Holley, a para-professional at ECHS, works with Maria as a liaison, helping convert teacher's tests into braille, and Maria's braille answers into printed words. "She (Maria) is just a teenage girl who loves music, loves to talk, loves the internet and likes the telephone; but she's a very smart young lady."

Holley has worked with Maria for four years; during that time Maria maxed out of the Accelerated Reader program. The program gets kids to read books and then tests them for comprehension. There are no more tests she can take. She's climbed these academic heights even though English is her second language.

Maria prefers to avoid the limelight, but says the attention she's receiving could do some good. "I hope that if there is a person out there that's blind and trying to deal with it and they can see people that are going around like normal people, you know in regular school and doing stuff like that, maybe they'll realize they can do it too," Maria says.

She has racked up more than a half dozen scholarship offers. In August she'll enroll at Auburn and major in computer science and Spanish.

Maria was born three months premature. Oxygen inside of her incubator hardened her eyes and left her blind.

Education Reporter: Michael Briddell