{"id":22786,"date":"2013-04-26T12:00:50","date_gmt":"2013-04-26T17:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/?p=22786"},"modified":"2013-04-26T12:41:16","modified_gmt":"2013-04-26T17:41:16","slug":"school-opens-its-doors-to-teach-community-about-deaf-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2013\/04\/26\/school-opens-its-doors-to-teach-community-about-deaf-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"School opens its doors to teach community about deaf culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Classic<\/a>School opens its doors to teach community about deaf culture<\/strong><\/p>\n

April 21, 2013<\/p>\n

By Robert Nott
\nThe New Mexican<\/p>\n

Hedy Udkovich-Stern imagines that a lot of people driving down Cerrillos Road past the New Mexico School for the Deaf wonder what goes on behind its walls.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one reason the school and its AmeriCorps members \u2014 who teach American Sign Language to hearing parents and siblings of deaf students \u2014 hosted an American Sign Language\/Deaf Culture event Saturday on the campus. Udkovich<\/span>-Stern, the school\u2019s family support specialist, gave hourly tours of the school\u2019s museum, which is generally open to the public only by appointment.<\/p>\n

School Superintendent Ronald Stern \u2014 only the eighth superintendent in the school\u2019s roughly 125-year history \u2014 said via an interpreter Saturday that, \u201cThere are a lot of inaccurate myths and perceptions about us. If we open ourselves up to the public and increase ways for the public to integrate with our community, it will bode very well for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organizers set up a number of informational booths in the school\u2019s Larson Gym for Saturday\u2019s event. AmeriCorps staffers and interpreters manned every booth, informing visitors about deaf films and media, ASL storytelling and the activities of the World Federation of the Deaf, which boasts about 72 million members worldwide.<\/p>\n

AmeriCorps New Mexico\u2019s nine staffers serve in different parts of the state, visiting homes and schools to teach American Sign Language in an effort to help family members communicate with deaf students. Many of these children live in isolated areas of the state and may have no other chance to receive such support. It is estimated that 90 percent of all deaf children come from hearing families.<\/p>\n

Monica Keller, who lives in Silver City and works with AmeriCorps clients around the southern part of the state, said via an interpreter that the program gives its clients \u201caccess to language. If they are around deaf people in their family and can\u2019t speak with them, it is confusing.\u201d She said the program reinforces, to both deaf students and their hearing siblings and parents, that \u201cthey can be successful and have their own language.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a nearby media booth, AmeriCorps\u2019 Dawn Croasmun showcased a number of films made by deaf media artists that are performed in sign language (with English-language subtitles). She said that in general, members of the public who have little interaction with deaf students are probably not aware that such films are made \u2014 or that deaf storytellers, visual artists and performance artists work all the time at their craft as well.<\/p>\n

One such theater artist is Levi Anderson, who serves as the student life educator at the New Mexico School for the Deaf. A former student, he said Saturday\u2019s open house was designed to educate the public about the school\u2019s mission and history \u201cand to make people aware that we exist.\u201d He and his twin brother, Clay \u2014 who can hear \u2014 work together as performance artists. Anderson directs the deaf theater show You Call This a Fairy Tale? which<\/span> plays at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the school\u2019s James A. Little Theater, a regular venue for many local performing groups.<\/p>\n

Little was one of the school\u2019s eight superintendents (1964-1983), Udkovich-Stern said during the tour of the Kenneth E. Brasel Centennial Museum<\/span>, which is housed on the second floor above the school\u2019s cafeteria. Brasel<\/span> \u2014 fifth superintendent of the school \u2014 opened the museum in 1987. It features a chronological history of the school\u2019s superintendents, original documents, letters and photos detailing the people and history of the school, a display of hearing-aid devices, classroom furniture and learning tools \u2014 including a large hand mirror that deaf students used to watch themselves as they worked on speech lessons, according to Udkovich-Stern.<\/p>\n

The school itself was founded by deaf pioneer Lars Larson and his wife, Belle, in 1887, and the two originally held classes in residences on both Manhattan Avenue and Dunlap Street before the school set up shop at its current locale, Udkovich-Stern said.<\/p>\n

Among the visitors taking in Saturday\u2019s event was Santa Fe Girls\u2019 School sixth-grader Claire Breitinger, who said she is studying American Sign Language and wanted to tour the school grounds, and University of New Mexico senior Kimberly Zachensky, who is studying American Sign Language and wants to work as an interpreter.<\/p>\n

Though she has no deaf family members, Zachensky recalled a middle-school friend who was hard of hearing and who began to teach Zachensky sign language. \u201cI was captivated,\u201d she recalled. She said she is still learning the language: \u201cThere\u2019s always more vocabulary that they can throw at you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Organizers hope to make the event an annual affair.<\/p>\n

For more information on the school or the AmeriCorps program, visit http:\/\/www.nmsd.k12.nm.us<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Contact Robert Nott at 986-3021 or rnott@sfnewmexican.com.<\/p>\n

SOURCE:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.santafenewmexican.com\/news\/local_news\/article_7aff2b05-1410-5cc0-8617-acf72a40c56e.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

School opens its doors to teach community about deaf culture April 21, 2013 By Robert Nott The New Mexican Hedy Udkovich-Stern imagines that a lot of people driving down Cerrillos Road past the New Mexico School for the Deaf wonder…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[1629,4621,23,18301,18304,24,18297,18299,18303,18300,12857,18305,2672,16757,17305,18302,92,18298,1656],"class_list":["post-22786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deaf-news","tag-american-sign-language","tag-article","tag-asl","tag-belle-larson","tag-claire-breitinger","tag-deaf","tag-fairy-tale","tag-kenneth-e-brasel-centennial-museum","tag-kimberly-zachensky","tag-lars-larson","tag-levi-anderson","tag-monica-keller","tag-new-mexico","tag-new-mexico-school-for-the-deaf","tag-ronald-stern","tag-santa-fe","tag-school","tag-udkovich-stern","tag-world-federation-of-the-deaf"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p752R-5Vw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28477,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2014\/09\/04\/new-mexico-school-for-the-deafs-new-library-opens\/","url_meta":{"origin":22786,"position":0},"title":"New Mexico School for the Deaf\u2019s new library opens","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"September 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"New Mexico School for the Deaf\u2019s new library opens August 17, 2014 By Robert Nott The New Mexican New Mexico School for the Deaf first-grader Nirveli Smith wore a pair of helium-filled balloons tied to her wrists Sunday afternoon as she helped welcome visitors to the school\u2019s new library, which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30793,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2015\/05\/18\/new-mexico-school-of-the-deaf-superintendent-has-ties-to-taos\/","url_meta":{"origin":22786,"position":1},"title":"New Mexico School of the Deaf superintendent has ties to Taos","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"May 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"New Mexico School of the Deaf superintendent has ties to Taos April 29, 2015 Taos News staff Rosemary Jeantete-Gallegos has been selected the ninth superintendent of the New Mexico School for the Deaf by its board of regents. 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