Blind Educator of the Year Award Presentation

Presented by Robin House

Robin House: Thank you, President Riccobono. Good morning everyone. It is my pleasure to serve on the Blind Educator of the Year Award Committee. I would like to thank the committee members. They include Vernon Humphrey, Adelmo Vigil, Cayte Mendez, and Melissa Riccobono. The Blind Educator of the Year Award has been presented for many years now and is an important award that we present here at the National Federation of the Blind. And I want to tell you a few things about this year’s recipient. This individual is nationally certified as an orientation and mobility instructor and he has a long resume and part of the nomination and his resume include his work with the Maryland Rehabilitation Services for the Blind as a private contractor in the field of orientation and mobility. And many of you know him in his work with the National Federation of the Blind, with the Jernigan Institute, where he served as coordinator of career mentoring and education programs.

And the different work he’s done has led him to his current position, which is very exciting. He lives in our fiftieth state. So he is from Honolulu, Hawaii. That’s where he is currently working at the Ho’opono Center for the Blind, where he serves in many capacities, including his work with individuals who are blind, in all ages and different abilities. He serves as a mentor. He serves as a role model. He promotes Braille literacy, orientation and mobility, and Structured Discovery. His students admire his work as a role model. He helps them live the life they want by building their skills. He helps them build their confidence and he meets his students where they are, which is very inspiring. He has worked with individuals who have had substance abuse or are dealing with the transition to blindness or who are encountering any difficulties. So he’s really impressive in both his resume and his nomination for this award. So the Blind Educator of the Year, I’m proud to announce, goes to Maurice Peret.

So I’m going to ask Maurice to hold on a minute. Maurice is going to receive a plaque that is both inscribed in print and in Braille, and I will read that plaque momentarily. He will also receive a $1,000 check and then he will have a chance to say a few remarks as far as the plaque goes. He is our Blind Educator of the Year, “National Federation of the Blind presented to Maurice Peret for outstanding accomplishment in the teaching profession. You enhance the present, you inspire your colleagues, you build the future. July 10, 2025.” Maurice Peret is the Blind Educator of the Year.

Maurice Peret: So maybe for the first time in my life, I don’t have any words, but I don’t know what to say. I didn’t know this was going to be coming. So Lou Ann and I—Lou Ann, we’re going to have to talk about this because I didn’t know this was coming. Thank you, Robin. Thank you for the committee. There’s so many deserving people out there who I look up to who are my mentors. I’ve been doing this for twenty-five years, and passion is what drives me. What I’ve learned in twenty-five years is that I don’t know much. What I do know, I learned from my mentors. I won’t start naming them because I’ll forget people, but there are people in this organization that showed me and had belief in me to give back something that I needed and need to give back to the people I work with. And what I’ve learned in life are these three simple things; Living is learning, loving is learning and teaching, and Structured Discovery is lifelong learning. So thank you and let’s go build the National Federation of the Blind.

Robin: Congratulations. Maurice, here’s your plaque. You’re welcome.