professional experience

explore my career journey below - click on a section to expand

IMPERIAL COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATION 1998-2006

I first began my career journey in a small, rural farming town in El Centro, CA as an Educational American Sign Language Interpreter. As is often the case in small rural towns, there's not a lot of resources nor an abundant amount of talent to learn from and rely on. Nevertheless, as a young man figuring out the world, I applied what skills and knowledge I had to cement some key skills. I already had a good grasp of what interpreting was and how to do it. I was able to hone in on my craft by constantly assessing what's said, what it means beyond just the words, and how best to produce a signed equivalent message. With this grit, I was able to take and pass the Boys Town Educational Sign Skills Evaluation at their highest level (5.0). Parenthetically, it was Boys Town who first piloted the evaluation that later became the Educational Interpreting Performance Assessment (EIPA).

I look back fondly on the certificated staff and the administrators in El Centro because they would often defer to me at Individual Education Plan (IEP) meetings, as well as at our program meetings, to seek my perspective on how advancing and raising the level of the students' educational milestones were progressing and seeking my feedback on new goals. Having a seat at the table, being able to collaborate with my colleagues, and being able to provide my feedback was an invaluable experience that helped shape how I think about educational pedagogy.

It wasn't uncommon to see me carrying with me everywhere I went a dictionary, a thesaurus, and an ASL dictionary. That might seem odd, but given I had a blurred role as interpreter and as a tutor/aide, it wasn't so out of place. That blurred role as interpreter and tutor/aide was an asset to me ironically! It was in that capacity as tutor that I become aware of and fascinated by a child's mind and their unique perspectives. It was then that I began taking courses at my local community college in developmental psychology. I finished my Associates in Science degree and I felt ready to take my national certification test. In 2006, I earned my Certificate in Transliteration from the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf.

Facilitated communication among hearing, Deaf/Hard of Hearing students, their teachers, and other personnel
Regular participant at Deaf/Hard of Hearing program meetings to improve student's education
Provided tutoring and other support services

Deaf Community Services of San Diego 2006-2011

Earning my CT from RID opened up an amazing opportunity for me in San Diego, CA. I was offered a position as an Educational Interpreter Specialist with Deaf Community Services of San Diego. Accepting that position was pivotal in my career journey. Plateau no more! I found myself surrounded by amazing talent, who brought many years of interpreting experience with them, and many of whom were from Deaf families. In addition, and perhaps more rewarding and enriching to me, I had the chance to work, collaborate, and develop my skills alongside my colleagues on a daily basis. I was challenged and stretched in my time at DCS, and it oriented my path to help me prepare to pass my Certificate of Interpretation from the RID.

As an Educational Interpreter Specialist, I was placed in all the usual classroom subjects one would expect: English, Science, History, Mathematics. I was surprised at how many other opportunities presented themselves to me, though. I was eager to interpret at Deaf staff meetings, IEP's, the school's daily news broadcasts, and lots more.

As a fully certified interpreter/transliterator now, I wanted to continue broadening my scope of practice. Fortunate for me, DCS runs a wide array of programs and services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing persons in San Diego county. When I asked to be considered for interpreting opportunities outside of education, my enthusiasm was quickly realized. Soon enough, I found myself interpreting in situations an Educational Interpreter wouldn't normally find themselves. I was at political rallies and parades, fundraisers, disaster preparedness courses (Community Emergency Response Team), hospital emergency rooms and doctors appointments, mental health and therapy appointments, group homes, and others. Being a non-profit, DCS would also enlist my help with representing our organization at outreach events like Deaf Awareness Day and the DCS annual Gala.

As an organization and interpreting department, we were growing fast. As such, my then supervisor approached me to see if I could be our department's ambassador for the community college internship program. Not only was I willing, but it presented a wonderful experience of growing into a role as mentor to our interns. [see my mentoring experience]

In my last year at DCS, I was fortunate to help collaborate with our scheduler in making scheduling decisions. We had over 15 interpreters at multiple school sites in the South Bay, as well as one site in the Grossmont area. Our scheduler and supervisor were both going to be unavailable for an extended amount of time and they needed somebody to step in. I was happy to accept a new challenge. I admit, there was a steep learning curve to adapt to scheduling. There are a lot more nuances and subtleties to scheduling that influence the scheduler's decision making.

In this new role and experience, I learned a great deal about interpreter and Deaf constituent's preferences. I also learned about people's strengths and when, where, and how to best utilize them in deciding whom to schedule in a particular situation.

Interpreted in a variety of settings including education, community, mental health, outreach
Oversaw the first iteration of interpreter internships from local community colleges
Successfully administered a master schedule of over 15 interpreters across different sites

SAn DIEGO COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT 2011-2023

In 2011, I felt ready to explore what being a "free lance" interpreter looked like. I began that leg of my journey with San Diego Community College District. Up until this point, I had experienced most, if not all of what K12 could show me. Interpreting in post-secondary helped me see that as an educational interpreter, all of the skills I had learned over the years, still applied. Moreover, I learned I can lean more on my training and the theory of interpreting, rather than using a practical/hands-on approach.

In K12, one models to students 'how to learn' whereas in post-secondary, one models 'what to learn.' This 'hand-off' approach to interpreting showed that as an interpreter, I was growing not only deeper, but wider of my understandings and abilities with facilitation of interactions.

SORENSON VIDEO RELAY 2011-2023

Video relay interpreting was the next logical step in my progression as an interpreter. As a VRS interpreter, the challenges are many and varied. Imagine in a given hour, you interpret for as many as 1-60 people! In that hour you might have had a call to a doctor's office to discuss a pre-op consultation; the next call could have been to an insurance agency to inform of a total loss of a house because of fire; the next call could be a grown mentally delayed son calling his aging mother; the next could be a lengthy political fundraising robocall; and finally, maybe you helped call 911 for a domestic violence situation at someone's home.

Not only are the call subjects many and varied, but the language needs are proportionally varied. With each call, one is assessing (on the fly!) language proficiency, fluency, register, modality, regional signs, accent, second language learner, late language acquisition, mental/physical illnesses or limitations that can skew a message.

With all the challenges aside though, VRS interpreting is a fruitful field. I have learned to manage conflict resolution. When a caller is upset with a previous interpreter, that anger is often carried forward to the next interpreter. I've learned to calibrate and listen to the caller's concerns and try to make them feel 'heard' and understood. I've learned that I can make positive change just by being patient with my responses and allowing trust to build.

SAN DIEGO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT 2015-PRESENT

Of all my previous work experiences, San Diego Unified has been the most rewarding and enriching of them all!

I started with SDUSD in 2015 as a Senior Educational Interpreter. What I appreciated about SDUSD is that as an Ed Interpreter, one's talents and skills are used for a myriad of other opportunities. I worked along with many of my interpreting peers and colleagues to build trust, respect, and a strong sense of cooperation.

In May of 2017, I transitioned into my current role with San Diego Unified - Deaf Adult Services Interpreter (DAS). I can say without a doubt that this has been a dream job for me. I have worked with the best of the best. I have been stretched to grow even more as an interpreter and as a leader. One area of growth for me has been in developing stronger working relationships with my colleagues. Through these relationships, it has allowed us better sharing of information and feedback. This is an important quality in the field of interpreting because we should always strive to maintain accuracy and equity in our work. Another area of growth for me has been my development as a leader. I have been fortunate to have been included in on interview panels to identify, screen, and vet potential applicants in joining our interpreting team.