Community Engaged Learning
As part of the American Sign Language/English Interpreting major we take a community engaged learning course each semester. We complete a minimum of 32 service hours as part of this course. We work with several community partners in the Salt Lake area that serve the Deaf Community and their families, as well as organizations that promote professional and ethical standards for interpreters. When I first learned about these requirements, I felt intimidated, but once I got started, doing service hours quickly became my favorite part of the program.
We gain so much from engaging with the community. We gain practical experience that applies to what we are learning in the classroom. This has enriched our learning in ways that just studying theory could never do. I also appreciate the personal nature of serving. I have had the opportunity to build relationships, and engage in work supporting organizations and causes that I find personally meaningful. Doing service also gives me an opportunity to practice and improve. Interpreting is a practice profession and the more practice we can get, the better. I have noticed that I am much more motivated by real world practice than by classroom exercises. This internal motivation makes learning and goal setting easier which has resulted in improvements in my interpreting skill and confidence.
Community Engaged Learning Course Final Reflections
Community Partners
Sego Lily Center for Abused Deaf
My first semester in the program, I had the opportunity to volunteer at a fundraising event for the Sego Lily Center for Abused Deaf. Sego Lily provides mental health services and resources for Deaf survivors of domestic violence and other kinds of abuse. I was so happy to support this organization and its goals; access to mental health services is an issue I care about deeply. Mental health and social services are vital for all of us, but those in the Deaf community face a language barrier that can make getting services more difficult.
Every year Sego Lily holds a large fundraising event, a Gala, to raise money for the center. The evening involves dinner, entertainment, live and silent auctions, and games that involve bidding for prizes and desserts. Before the night of the gala, volunteers met over zoom to discuss our responsibilities. I was on the registration team, but also helped with some of the decorating and set up the night before. On the night of the gala, the registration team was responsible for checking people in, keeping track of bid totals, and checking people out at the end of the night. We got there early in the afternoon. We were set up at a table near the entrance with laptops. We checked in the volunteers first. When people arrived, we would find their names in our registration spreadsheet and find their assigned bid number. Then we would give them their numbered auction paddle and stamp their hand. Throughout the night we kept a running total of everyone’s bids in our spreadsheets. At the end of the evening, we checked people out and took their payments. The evening was a success, and I am immensely proud to have been involved in a small way to support The Sego Lily Center for Abused Deaf (SLCAD) and their mission to provide mental health services to those in need within the Deaf community.
Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind
I also had the opportunity to serve at a Parent Infant Program event hosted by USDB Springville. It was a retreat for the parents of Deaf and hard of hearing children. Volunteers were needed to care for and provide activities for the children while the parents were in their meetings. The vision of USDB’s Parent Infant Program is for Deaf and hard of hearing children to reach developmental appropriate language and become preschool ready. Again I was able to provide service that I found personally meaningful.
An issue that we discussed in David’s class that semester was language deprivation. Deaf actress, Sandra Mae Frank, was in an episode of “New Amsterdam” that illustrated this issue. When spoken language is not fully accessible to the Deaf child, and sign language exposure is delayed, there can be long lasting consequences in the brain. That’s why early intervention programs like Parent Infant Programs that teach sign language to Deaf children and their families are so important.
A Parent Infant Program, like USDB's provides parents with information, classes, home visits, resources, the opportunity to learn/teach their child sign language, and to meet other parents and children that are going through the same thing.
I would volunteer with them again. I support any organization that advocates sign language for deaf babies. It is ironic that popular baby sign language programs are considered beneficial for children that can hear but are sometimes discouraged in the education of children that are deaf. This is because of an outdated and unsupported idea that teaching children to sign will somehow impede their ability to learn speech.
Robert G. Sanderson Community Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Mission: The mission of the center is "to elevate, unify, and empower the Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and DeafBlind Utahns by building an inclusive community with full communication access."
The center offers many services, events and classes. I have had the opportunity to volunteer, socialize, and interpret at various events throughout my two years in the program.
Interpreting Practice
I have loved every opportunity I have had to meet other interpreters both when observing and volunteering. I learn so much from them. Interpreting assignments and client information should always be kept confidential. So most of the work that we do cannot be shared, but there is an exception to this when interpreting at a public event. The pictures below are all from public events where I had the opportunity to volunteer.
A Night of Thanks
Several Salt Lake Churches got together to put on a concert for Thanksgiving 2023. This was an ideal opportunity for newer interpreters, since we could prepare ahead of time. I prepared and interpreted three songs.
Utah Pride
This summer I had the opportunity to volunteer with Utah Pride. The first night was the Pride Interfaith Worship Service, held at First Baptist Church, and put on by the Utah Pride Interfaith Coalition. The goal of the coalition is to provide a voice and presence for those in the LGBTQ community that are people of faith, and to introduce them to welcoming and LGBTQIA-affirming congregations of various traditions. I was asked to go as support to the two certified interpreters that were there.
Westside Coalition and League of Women Voters - Candidate Forum
After getting my student permit, I had the opportunity to volunteer along with a certified interpreter at an event hosted by the Westside Coalition and the League of Women Voters September 26, 2023. Candidates discussed their vision for the city. The event was open to the public and recorded for the Westside Coalition's Facebook page
INTR 1100 Connections to Community I - Final Reflection
INTR 1100 - Connections to the Community I
This course is designed to immerse students in the Deaf community and interpreting profession through Community-Engaged Learning and mentoring opportunities to improving ASL skills and broaden their understanding of the community and profession.
Signature Assignment
Service Learning Jourmal - INTR 1100
INTR 1110 Connections to Community II - Final Reflection
INTR 1110 Connections to Community II
This course is designed to immerse students in the Deaf community and interpreting profession through Community-Engaged Learning and mentoring opportunities to improving ASL skills and broaden their understanding of the community and profession.
Signature Assignment
Service Learning Journal - INTR 1110
INTR 2100 Connections to Community III - Final Reflection
INTR 2100 Connections to Community III
This course is designed to immerse students in the Deaf community and interpreting profession through Community-Engaged Learning and mentoring opportunities to improving ASL skills and broaden their understanding of the community and profession.
Signature Assignment
Service Learning Journal III
This semester we learned about Direct Service and Philanthropy. My ability to be an ally to the Deaf community is enhanced by learning about different kinds of service.
Direct Service is service that happens in direct contact with the people, animals, or places we want to impact (https://www.learningtogive.org) This is like when we volunteer to interpret at a local church or help with the setup and tear-down of a local event. Philanthropy comes out of an altruistic attempt to improve human welfare and most often involves charitable giving on a large scale. This is often a more indirect type of service, you may never see the people that your donation helps, like when money is raised for disaster relief for people on the other side of the world. I have had experiences with both as I have been in the program. I will describe some of my experience and impressions doing each of these types of service.
Direct Service: This semester I continued to volunteer at the Robert G. Sanderson Community Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Their mission is "to elevate, unify, and empower the Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and DeafBlind Utahns by building an inclusive community with full communication access." The center offers many services and events and classes. One of these is an ASL class offered to the community that is taught by staff at the center. These classes are offered for free. They are filled with people curious to learn about ASL, often because of a Deaf family member or friend.
I had the opportunity to volunteer as an interpreter for these classes to facilitate communication between these beginning ASL students and their Deaf teacher (who was also a mentor in the ASL/English Interpreting program at the time.) These classes are a direct service to the community. I saw firsthand how the classes were allowing grandparents and aunts and uncles of Deaf children to communicate more effectively with their family members, and for employees to form connections with their Deaf coworkers. It felt good to be a part of that, and I hope that they were pleased with the interpreting services I provided.
Philanthropy: SLCAD is a non-profit 501c3 agency that is designed to meet the specific cultural and linguistic needs of Deaf, Deaf/Blind and Hard of Hearing victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. They provide direct services to victims (like help finding safe shelter, and legal help, and counseling) as well as educational outreach and advocacy and collaborating with other providers. Because they are a non-profit organization, they rely on philanthropic efforts for their funding.
Last year, I had the opportunity to volunteer as part of a fundraising event for SCLAD. They held a 1920's Gala that included dinner, a silent auction, "Dessert Dash" bidding, as well as a traditional auction. I was on the registration team. We checked people in and took payments at the end of the night. I also helped with set up and decorations the nights before.
There are several opportunities to volunteer with SLCAD. There are opportunities to become an event volunteer (like I did), to volunteer in the office, to become a victim advocate, or even to become a board member. For large events like the Gala, local businesses also have the opportunity to get involved in this philanthropic effort. For example, I remember Sorensen, 5 Star Interpreting, and Amazon all provided volunteers and/or sponsored a table at the event.
I can definitely see myself volunteering with SLCAD again. This year the Gala's theme is "Under the Sea" and I hope they can use me again.
I can be an ally to the Deaf community by volunteering my time and money to organizations that are already serving the community, but as a hearing person with no Deaf family members, my role is to support rather than lead in addressing social change within the community.
INTR 2200 Interpreting III - Final Reflection
INTR 2200 Interpreting III
This course provides the opportunity to continue practicing ASL/ENG interpretation skills using a simultaneous format. Linguistic and cultural considerations are emphasized for accurate interpretations and to preserve meaning.
Signature Assignment
Service Learnign Journal - INTR 2200
INTR 2600 Internship II - Final Reflection
Block 1
My Block 1 placement was in an Elementary School classroom. This has been good exposure to the K-12 setting. I have had the opportunity to interpret a variety of topics, conversations, and presentations. There have been opportunities to interpret for fieldtrips, assemblies, PE, math, science, history, art and music. There are things that I like about K-12, but there are also unique challenges to the setting that skilled educational interpreters must learn to navigate. The K-12 setting was not my first choice for an internship, but I am glad that I had the opportunity that I did. I can see myself working in this setting, perhaps, at some point in the future. Right now I want to continue to gain exposure and experience in a variety of settings and types of interpreting work.
Block 2
My Block 2 setting was freelance. This has included a variety of assignments at a variety of locations and times. There have been several opportunities to interpret assignments in medical settings, some in K-12 classrooms, and some in vocational/tech colleges. Even sporting events. I have appreciated this variety. As an interning student I want to get as much exposure and practice as I can. I also had the opportunity to work with two mentors during Block 2. This has also been helpful. Getting feedback from multiple sources can help you to see things in light of multiple perspectives. Block 2 offered more variety and also provided me with more opportunities to practice voicing for clients, than I had during Block 1.