VIDBE-Q Volume 67 Issue 1
Nominated by Amy T. Parker & Holly M. Lawson
Becky Morton is the 2022 recipient of the Virginia Murray Sowell Student
of the Year award. Becky was selected as a member of the Orientation and
Mobility (O&M) program at Portland State University (PSU) in 2019. Becky is
also a student in the VIL program at Portland State University. Throughout her
coursework, she has demonstrated competence from a technical, scholarly, and
community-oriented perspective. She has contributed to PSU's outreach to the
community as a student worker by supporting efforts to promote equity through
Mobility Matters, 2020 and 2021.
During Becky's course of study in the O&M and VIL programs, she has
demonstrated numerous instances of leadership in different groups of learners and
professionals, encouraging collaboration in a quiet and organized way. She
dedicates herself to assessment, to braille, and to O&M, because she wants to be
the best professional that she can be. This was evident early on, when she decided
to reduce her hours of employment so that she could be mentored as a TSVI in her
practicum phase. Becky has recently been hired by the Columbia Regional
Program as a TSVI and O&M serving infants, toddlers and young families in the
Portland area. She also worked creatively to do a short-term practicum internship
with a TSVI and COMS in Idaho who has expertise in serving young children and
Virginia Murray Sowell Student of the Year
Award: Becky Morton