Superstar – Andrew Wood!

Andrew is legally blind with only peripheral vision in one eye and extreme near sightedness and restricted field of view in the other.  His diagnosis is High Myopia, macular scar in his right eye, nystagmus and PHPD-Persistent Hyperplastic Primary Vitreous.

 

Needless to say, success isn’t “easy” for Andrew, as he has to work two or three times harder than most of his peers in a number of areas.  You’ll never hear him complaining but you will, however, see him pushing himself to excel in just about everything he touches!

 

Let’s talk Academics…. Scoring in the 99^th percentile on his PSAT in Reading & Math, Andrew is a straight A student in accelerated classes and will be moving into the 9^th grade in the fall of 2019 with high school geometry and 2 years of math already under his belt.  He took part in the National Academic Pentathlon this past year and participated in the Jackson Middle School Viking Leader Challenge.  Science is also a strong suit for Andrew being the scholarship recipient of the North Texas Space Camp for the Visually Impaired.

 

“The Arts”… Andrew nails it this category as well, being a highly-skilled Celloist in his school’s orchestra, being named Outstanding Soloist and receiving the Judges’ Award for Orchestra.  Reading music is not an option, so he memorizes the music and plays mostly by ear.  He is also an amazing artist and took 2^nd Place at the Visual Aid Volunteers Art Contest twice.  And if that weren’t impressive enough, he has a beautiful voice and was accepted into advanced choir!

 

And there’s more… Boy Scouts of America…  Andrew is a highly decorated Scout and was inducted into the Honor Camper Society by his peers, which is a rare honor for a Scout.  His parents will be proud to show you the countless Scouting badges & awards Andrew has earned over the years but you will need to set aside a great deal of time if you want to hear about all of them!

 

And we can’t forget about “Andrew the Humanitarian!”  Obviously through Boy Scouts he participates in several community service projects and particularly enjoys those helping clean up his community.  He also enjoys volunteering for his church.

This is just a short list of Andrew’s long list of achievements.  And if you think you couldn’t be more impressed, wait until you meet him!