Blind Sperreng Middle School student Alexis "Ali" Kricho was the leader of a special braille literacy event after school on Thursday.

The Special School District student and one of her teachers, Cathy Kendall, suggested to librarian Amy Sears that they have some type of braille event at the school. Sears organized the after-school activity, attended by approximately 50 students, to coincide with National Braille Literacy Month--and inventor Louis Braille's birthday.

Kricho made a presentation on braille, then showed other students how to operate braille machines. They capped off the afternoon by decorating chocolate cupcakes with braille lettering. Kricho was named an ambassador for braille literacy for her participation. 

Kricho, who also suffers a degenerative bone condition, moved around the room in a wheelchair. She recently broke her leg, said her mother, Charlene.

Her mother was pleased with the attendance.

"Mrs. Sears kind of took it and said, 'Why don't we do this and made it a big event?,' and more kids signed up than anticipated, which is great," Charlene Kricho said. "There were even more children that wanted to sign up but there was limited amount of room, so that's always very exciting to hear."

View more photos from Braille Fun Day on the Sunset Hills-Crestwood Patch Facebook page!