MACON, Ga. — Third graders from Burdell Hunt Elementary learn lessons that go beyond the classroom.
Their blind teacher, Miss Ciara Hall, says they're learning to understand and accept people who may be different from them.
"There is no greater joy than seeing one of those kids just light up when they understand something," Hall said.
Hall discovered her love for teaching, volunteering at an elementary school in high school, but she knew it wasn't going to be easy.
"I was born with congenital glaucoma, and so the doctors knew that my vision was going to go away, eventually," Hall said.
She went through multiple surgeries to save it, but by 12 years old, she went completely blind.
"I really felt like that it's God's way of saying, 'OK, this was the purpose I have for you. There is a reason why you cannot see,'" Hall said.
Now 24 years old, she's a student teacher for Alison Scott's third grade students with her service dog Nolan by her side.
"She has somebody who writes for her, she has a student who keeps time for her, she has student who tells her whose hand is raised. They've stepped up to helping her," Scott said.
"Everyone that they meet is going to be different in some kind of way, and I feel like it teaches them compassion," Hall said.
For Ava Jinkins, Hall is one of her biggest inspirations.
"If she's believing or doing her dreams and she's blind, I can believe in myself and do my dreams," Jinkins said.
After she graduates, Hall hopes to begin teaching in Peach County which is closer to her home in Fort Valley.