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Central Institute for the Deaf releases book as part of anniversary celebration | The Grade | STLtoday

Central Institute for the Deaf in St. Louis is celebrating its 95th anniversary this year, and one of the things they’ve done to celebrate is release a very nice book about the school, called “CID: A Journey.” The book is available for $19.95 through the school’s website and is now appearing in local bookstores. Proceeds from the book will go towards the school’s scholarship program.

The book features 72 pages of color pictures and simple text that tells the stories of the children, families, and teachers of the school where deaf children learn to listen, talk, read and succeed without using sign language.

It follows the story of Whitney, who starts her day at 4 a.m. Her dad drives her to an early-morning daycare where she then catches a bus and takes an hour-long ride into school. It talks about Yusef and his family, who moved here from Dubai so he can attend the school. His dad quit his job at home and now holds several jobs in St. Louis to support his family.

The book’s photos were taken by Tom Rollins, it was designed by Michael Kilfoy, and it was written by Kilfoy and the school’s communications director, Kim Readmond.

“I’ve been here 20 years, and I learned a new way of thinking about what we do,” by working on the book, said Readmond. Rollins and Kilfoy gave her fresh eyes, and that perspective is what they attempted to capture in the book.

Rollins, a professional photographer, started taking pictures at the school about four years ago after talking with CID’s executive director, Robin Feder, during a baseball game. He started taking pictures for the school’s newsletters and website but realized they could tell their story through a broader format. For the book, he donated his time and visited families in their homes, attended school field trips, graduations, and hung out in classrooms and at sports events. “I wanted to make this uplifting, because everything that I saw was such good news,” he said. “It was exciting.”

Kilfoy had to come through more than 7,000 of Rollins’ photographs to tell the stories featured in the book. Kilfoy, author of “St. Louis Seen and Unseen,” was familiar with CID because two of his close friends had actually attended school there. He realized that without CID, he probably wouldn’t have been able to talk with them and form such strong friendships.

“It’s an extraordinary place,” he said. “It’s funny because we sort of think of primary schools as being one level. As you go up the ladder, things get better. I would be hard-pressed to find a college where there’s as much importance in teaching an individual as there is at CID.”

So, check out the book and learn a little more about the journeys so many people take at CID.

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