Wisconsin By Your Side
Posted on: October 10, 2008No comments yet
After visiting Wisconsin School for the Deaf, I walked off the Delavan campus believing I had found the key to running a strong, successful Deaf institute: determination and community.
Now, given the fact I have absolutely no background on running a school for the Deaf – much less attended one growing up – perhaps I am in no position to make such a statement.
But how can I not, when it was apparent only an hour after the DeafNation RV pulled into the institute parking lot, where we were warmly greeted and asked if we needed anything? Appreciative of the Midwestern hospitality – and happily accepting showers for the morning – the DeafNation crew went to bed knowing that the next day would get off to a fresh start.
And it was determination that greeted us in the morning when we stopped in on a handful of classrooms: one eighth-grade social studies teacher wove the history of the Castro regime over Cuba in crystal-clear ASL, and two English teachers teamed up their eleventh-grade classes for an hands-on activity, in which students fervently participated in a discussion, voicing their opinions on good vs. evil in Lord of the Flies. The DeafNation crew later found that learning does not stop in WSD classrooms: the institute has arranged field trips to places such as Costa Rica and Mount Rushmore, as well as observatories and the like. WSD also invests in the latest technology, dabbling in aspects like Web 2.0, e-mail, videophones, and the like.
And thanks to the institute’s ironclad belief in the bilingual/bicultural philosophy – in which the administration has, altogether, 50+ years of experience with – all the teachers at WSD are able to successfully integrate both languages, propelling learning from the very start.
The DeafNation crew took time to sit down with Alex Slappey, Director of the Wisconsin Educational Services Program for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (WESPDHH), whose offices are based at WSD and backed by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Serving both students at WSD – and nearly 1,600 students in the state of Wisconsin – Slappey ticked off a comprehensive list of services WESPDHH offers – for parents, professionals in the field, and students:
• Guide By Your Side (GBYS), where a parent of a Deaf child is trained and serves as a mentor to new parent of a Deaf child (a parent-to-parent matching program);
• A loaner program, in which WSD loans technology (hearing aids and the like) to deaf students and their families to try and test out prior to purchasing their own
• Getaway weekends for teenagers from all over Wisconsin, such as Teen Getaway Weekend;
• A resource library, conferences, and presentations;
• And much more (http://www.wesp-dhh.wi.gov)
After thanking the director for the interview, the crew continued the tour, lead by Activities Director Roger Claussen. Claussen chatted away, ticking off with pride some of the things WSD had to offer:
• A stunning gym splashed in a red-and-white combination, serving as a background for a fierce-looking Firebird painted on the wall, along with a dynamic sports program;
• A full, wide-ranging library for students K-12;
• A strong Academic Bowl team, who recently won the Midwest conference;
• A solid transition program in the high school, where it arms seniors with all the necessary tools and knowledge needed after high school (in both college and the workforce);
• The 1:5 teacher-student ratio, which contributes to much of the concentrated interaction between student and teacher;
• The ability for students to go to and from Devalan High School to take more advanced courses, such as AP European History or higher-level math courses;
• A 9-hole disc golf course;
• A educational, vibrant museum that narrates the history of Wisconsin School for the Deaf;
• And a new building in the works!
Claussen wrapped up the tour by promising to meet up with the DeafNation crew at the Southern Lakes Association of the Deaf – where he predicted a good majority of WSD’s faculty/staff would turn out, for many of them are also invested in the Deaf community.
Arriving at SLAD’s club house later that night, we were greeted by Scott Walker, SLAD’s President – and the rest of SLAD, which totaled to nearly a crowd of 50! After some pizza, socializing, and fans rooting for their respective football team – Viable closed out the night by giving a presentation on the company’s product and services.
Interested in WSD, and want to learn more? You can go to http://www.wesp-dhh.wi.gov!
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