KINGS —  About four months ago, Kings School history and English teacher Steven Steiner found out that one of his students was colorblind. 

He reached out to a company called EnChroma to see if he could get some glasses to help the student. He was asked to test every student in the school for color blindness and found five others that needed the glasses. Steiner came to an agreement to get glasses from EnChroma for all of them. That was about four months ago.

On Friday, five colorblind Kings students were presented with their glasses during a school-wide assembly and some saw colors for the first time. Others with more mild color blindness saw colors in their fullest capacity. 

Receiving glasses Friday were Tyson Carmichael (sixth grade), Aiden Carmichael (seventh grade) and eighth graders Alex Foster, Ben Foster and Andrew Johnson. Seventh grader Colton Hopp was not able to attend the assembly and Steiner gave him his glasses the day before.

“I did that yesterday and his reaction was just so special to me,” Steiner said. “Because as a teacher, I always want to help my students see the world in a different way and experience things they've never experienced before. Just seeing his reaction, it really was something I'll never forget and I'm sure he would say the same."

During Friday’s assembly, students from the rest of the school wore bright colors for the students to see through their new glasses. EnChroma sent bright-colored balloons. After students put on their glasses, they saw new shades of orange and their mouths opened in surprise after Steiner directed them to look at the colors of the flag. 

After the assembly, students did color-based activities to get further-acquainted with their new glasses. 

The glasses are specific to each student and their colorblind needs. Some have very severe color blindness and for others it’s more mild. Kings has approximately 90 students. About 4-5 percent of people are colorblind. 

“Some of the kids with more severe color blindness reacted as I hoped and I think this was a life-changing experience for them,” Steiner said. “As a teacher, that's what we do. Two of the students were brothers, and that didn't surprise me that they were both colorblind. They actually have different types of colorblindness. Seeing them both react the same way, that was special to me."

Each student received two pairs, one for indoors and one for outdoor use. Steiner made sure to give the students glasses with adult frames so they can use them as they grow into adulthood. He believes it’ll be really important for them later in life when they go on to deal with things such as stoplights. 

“I think it's really important to make sure that if someone is colorblind, they know about it,” Steiner said. “I'm really happy I was able to provide them with the tools they needed."