News : VS Students Tour Braille School

By Fritz Burow On a chilly, rainy Thursday morning, students of the Vinton-Shellsburg West Campus entered the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School's ornate front doors for their first time"�165 years after the school received its first vision-impaired pupils. IBSSS graduate Robert Spangler, welcomes West Campus students "I've been by the building many times,"� said sophomore McKenzy Callan, "but had no idea how impressive the inside was."� She and her classmates were greeted by the IBSSS secretary and historian, Pat Barr, and Robert Spangler, an 1982 alumnus of the school. The duo escorted the students into an adjacent room where they started their historical journey among 19th century furniture and a display featuring the signatures of the Ingalls family when they enrolled their blind daughter, Mary, a graduating member of the class of 1889. Rooms visited included the girls' dormitory, where several VS students noted how much they looked like a college setting, and the auditorium, complete with its pipe organ. A group photograph was taken with students lining the balcony railing. The library, exercise room, swimming pool and tunnels connecting the building to adjacent structures proved areas of interest and curiosity, and the 2-lane bowling alley, pool and ping pong tables and concession area brought out the desire for a return visit by the West Campus students. Senior Nate King said he was especially pleased to observe that the Braille School seemed to have, ""�everything any other school could have, just modified for the sight impaired."� IBSSS historian Pat Barr shows a braille book to VS Superintendent Mary Jo Hainstock (Photos courtesy of Burow Photography) Junior Philip Sturgeon added that he hadn't expected to see so many books in the library, especially those offering information in both braille and print. "But I was surprised that the library has videos for the blind,"� he added. These, of course, include a narrator who describes what is happening on the screen, along with the usual movie dialogue. The tour was part of a Community Service unit where West Campus students learn more about their community and ways in which they can be involved.