Brittany Goins faces the odds of visual disability every day, but doesn’t let her blindness stop her from dreaming big.

Goins, 19, is a 2012 graduate of Hiram High School. This summer, she hopes to move to Colorado to begin a six-month transitional program with the Colorado Center for the Blind where she will live with another blind roommate.

While there, she will learn how to use public transportation, fly on an airplane alone, rock climb, hike and go whitewater rafting.

“It’s really to teach them that they should never let their blindness hold them back,” said Goins’ mother, Terri Goins.

Brittany Goins’ long-term goal in learning these skills is to become a missionary in either a full-time or part-time capacity.

“I’ve always had a heart for people,” said Goins, cheerfully.

Goins currently attends Life Church in Douglasville, where she sings on the Praise team. She said she has always loved to sing and has been in choir since elementary school.

Goins also wants to read books for the blind.

“I love reading for other people,” she said. “One of my goals in life is to make people happy. That’s what I pray for every day — for God to let me be a light for other people.”

It appears that Goins has already made a difference in the Hiram community.

“She makes a difference,” said Meg Hunt-Williams, a Hiram High volunteer and alumna who met Goins in her freshman year at Hiram.

Goins attended middle school at the Georgia Academy for the Blind in Macon.

“She’s had opportunities in her life during the last four years that could have made or broken her spirit, but she chose to stay positive,” said Hunt-Williams. “Because of that, she’s going to touch a lot of people’s lives in other arenas.”

Goins said the Hiram High community was very supportive throughout her schooling, and one of her teachers even learned how to read Braille.

The recent graduate said she initially wanted to return to Hiram after middle school to be closer to family. When she got to high school she felt that she was meant to come home for high school after she met her chorus teacher, Leslie Gillis.

“She’s encouraged me so much,” said Goins.

Goins said she would like to use music as a tool as part of her missions work.

“The most exciting thing [about missionary work] is the thought that I could bring light into someone else’s life,” she said. “To let them know that Jesus can be with them through the hard times.”