Super Students
Saturday, July 19, 1997
Name: Christine Chaikin
Age: 18
School: Konawaena High
Favorite subject: Math
Pastime: Internet
Future: California community college
Dave Chaikin loses things around the house all the time, so his daughter Christine finds them for him. "She finds stuff I can't find," he said. A vision for the future
The twist is that Chaikin has normal vision while Christine is legally blind.
She has 20/800 vision in her right eye and only light perception in her left eye.
Konawaena High School counselor Jeanne Hartney says Christine has to use a magnifier and a very bright light to read and do her homework.
Despite that, Christine graduated this spring with a B average. "I don't know how I did that," Christine said, laughing.
She studies a lot, Hartney said. Christine doesn't think so. She says she spends most of her time "surfing" the Internet.
She likes using computers so much she's considering finding the right California community college where she can study them.
Vision-impaired since infancy, Christine has been using computers since about the second grade.
Her hobby got a boost about two years ago when a Zoom Text program was invented that enlarges the text on screen.
Dependent on others for transportation in sprawling Kona, Christine has a hard time keeping track of school friends. So she snags friends from her father and mother Stephanie, her father says.
"She steals my friends. She steals my wife's friends," he joked.
Rod Thompson, Star-Bulletin
