Top row (from left): Danalyn Garcia of Chicago Public Schools, Lucie Lane of Shawnee Mission School District in Kansas, Jeff Carroll of Newport News Public Schools in Virginia and Kaori Anderson-Walker of Boys' Latin of Philadelphia Charter School.

Bottom row (from left): Paul Stone of Mt. Diablo Unified School District in California, Diana Swanson of Vail School District in Arizona, Kathleen Tejeda of Alvord Unified School District in California and Emily Ellis of Lexington School District Two in South Carolina. LA Johnson/NPR hide caption

LA Johnson/NPR

One of Kathleen Tejeda's students began freshman year just trying to get by. High school can be tricky for any teenager, but she was navigating it as a blind person.

By the end of her junior year, with support from Tejeda and other school staff, the student had gone from getting by to going big: She made the cheerleading squad and the school choir.…