Deaf, partially deaf kids share day at corn maze

From: Greeley Tribune, CO - Sep 18, 2004

Rebecca Waddingham
September 18, 2004

The scorching late-summer sun did nothing to wear down a group of deaf and partially deaf students from the region who gathered in La Salle on Friday.

About 75 of them, ranging from sixth to 12th grade, might as well have been inside an air-conditioned, shaded playground for how excited and active they were.

But despite the party atmosphere, much of the tent at the corn maze at Glen and Kim Fritzler's farm in La Salle was relatively quiet. That's because most of the people beneath it communicated with gleeful sign language combined with speech.

Friday was the first official get-together for deaf and partially deaf middle and high school students in the region. For many, it was the first encounter with several others like them, who use American Sign Language and hearing aids to communicate.

"I think it's really great because (other deaf and partially deaf) people in different towns are so far away," said Sheri Houghtalin, 18, a senior at Boulder High School, who is partially deaf. "People should be in a more-together, close group. Everybody wants to get together. It just needs to happen."

Shana Bokelman is the teacher who made Friday's field trip a reality.

As a teacher for the Centennial Board of Cooperative Education Services, she travels to all small Weld County schools to teach deaf and partially deaf students. Elementary-level students who are deaf and partially deaf have field trips like this every year, but this was the first time older students participated, she said.

"I felt it was just as important for this group to get together and have fun," she said. "It gives them a fun trip and that connection, that they're not the only one."

Pamela Martinez, 15, is in the ninth grade at Weber Junior High School in Fort Collins. Through a sign-language interpreter, she said it was nice to meet other students in the same situation. She said she was meeting many students for the first time.

"We had a lot of fun walking into the dark monster," she said, pointing to a massive inflatable giant. "But it was really warm inside."

Students from Greeley-Evans School District 6, Boulder Valley School District, Poudre School District and Denver Public Schools attended.

They all got souvenir "Corn Maize" hats and pizza for lunch.

Some students from larger cities had never been on a farm. For them, peering at the goats and seemingly endless cornfields was as interesting as the games and activities.

Allison Haas, an interpreter for University Schools in Greeley, signed her conversations as she speaking.

That way, other kids around who couldn't hear her still knew what she was saying.

"We pretty much sign all the time because of anyone who's around," she said.

Plus, it becomes a habit as an interpreter, she added.

Judging from the surveys Bokelman handed out, students and teachers agreed the field trip should be done every year.

At least one teacher said the field trip was as important as it was fun.

"High school has been left out -- there are more opportunities for the little ones," said Jane Carlson, a teacher in the Boulder school district.

"I myself am excited to see high school kids be able to get together."

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