ROCK PORT, Mo. (KMTV) — A Nebraska City woman is deemed the best nationally at what she does, but Audrey Graves doesn't just teach braille in Nebraska.
- KMTV met Graves in Rock Port, Mo., where she travels to teach students including Anna Weber. They've worked together for two years.
- "Every time Anna sees Audrey, she embraces her with this hug that you know is love and care," Libby Stenzel, Weber's mom, explained.
- Graves will be honored by the Braille Institute as the 2025 Teacher of the Year for her "transformative braille instruction and lifelong impact" on June 28 in Los Angeles.
Continue reading for the broadcast transcript of this story.
School may not be in session in Rock Port, but around the corner -
"We have some braille to do. Are you ready for this?," teacher Audrey Graves encouraged her student, Anna Weber.
The 14-year-old is learning.
"Now, make sure, good posture and think of your finger positioning," Graves continued.
She began teaching braille 20 years ago with the Nebraska Center for the Education of Children Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired. She's worked with Anna for two years.
"With Anna learning braille, really what I take from it is - it's firing her brain in ways that, as her vision depletes, that's giving her skills to help continue building the neurons in her brain," Libby Stenzel, Weber's mom, explained.
About five years ago, Weber was diagnosed with CLN3 Batten disease.
"And the way that I explain it is - our cells need to get rid of trash and Anna is missing the gene to get rid of that trash," Stenzel said.
Weber hasn't yet lost all of her vision.
"But then, the vision she does have, 20/1200. But you would not know that by meeting her," Graves added.
Weber is effervescent. She's an athlete and works part-time, but is aware of what she's facing.
"I mean, if my vision gets worse and I can't see most anything, then, yes, I'm going to have to use it," Weber confirmed of what may come of her reliance on braille.
She can read, type words and make shapes. Weber used letters to create the state of Nebraska during our visit.
"I've learned that, for her to learn, we have to have fun," Graves said of tailoring her approach to her students.
Stenzel, a fourth-generation teacher herself, beamed as she talked about Graves' impact.
"Every time Anna sees Audrey, she embraces her with this hug that you know is love and care."
The mother and daughter nominated Graves for the Braille Institute's 2025 Teacher of the Year - a national award.
"I'm not often speechless. I'm kind of like Anna. We're chatterboxes! And I was without words," Graves recalled.
"I was just honored to be nominated. And then, finding out I was selected was beyond anything I could expect."
She will be recognized on June 28, 2025 in Los Angeles; both Stenzel and Weber will be there in person to celebrate.