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She's deaf, a college valedictorian and planning FBI career | greenbaypressgazette.com | Green Bay Press-Gazette
For Dave Collins, it was an epiphany, the moment when he realized that his special-needs daughter was very special indeed.
Sara, then 7, had spent four years in an alley behind Farnsworth Middle School doggedly trying to ride a bicycle — a major undertaking for a girl who was profoundly deaf and struggled with her balance. She had the cuts and scrapes to show for it.
"I begged her to stop and she never stopped," he said, estimating that Sara fell more than 1,200 times.
This time, however, she stayed on. And she hasn't stopped pedaling, really, making believers of her father and everyone else who thought she wouldn't get far in life with such a severe disability.
"I'm so proud of her, it's hard to describe," Dave said, his eyes watering. "She is not handicapped. She is deaf, and there's a difference.
"That spirit is in everything she does."
Oh, the places Sara Collins has been.
At the Wisconsin School for the Deaf in Delavan, she was part of a six-member team that finished third in the state in a mock-trial competition, knocking off accomplished hearing teams along the way. The school considers this one of the proudest moments in its 156-year history.
Exceptionally bright and an outstanding student, Sara passed on a full scholarship to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison, heading off instead to her dream school, Gallaudet University, in Washington, D.C.
Two weeks ago, she graduated from Gallaudet, an internationally renowned school for the deaf and hard of hearing, as valedictorian of its Class of 2008. In addition to English and American Sign Language, she knows Spanish and Italian.
Her sights are set on a career as an intelligence analyst for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. She already has applied with the bureau, and she will work for a Washington consulting firm in the interim. Down the road, law school is a possibility.
Yes, Dave Collins' little girl is still on the bike — and what a spectacular ride it has been.
"Sara has the ability to grab the now and make it blossom," said Diana Zolkowski of Kohler, who has known the Collins family, which now lives in Sheboygan Falls, for years.
"We're going to hear about Sara Collins in the future. She's going to go far. She's going to soar."
Sara, 22, back home for her sister Katie's graduation from North High School, credits the Sheboygan Area School District with giving her a head start on success. At age 2, she was part of a program at James Madison Elementary School that drew hearing-impaired children from throughout the county.
The program has since been discontinued, and early education for such children is now done in the home by roving teachers from the district or state. But Dave and Sara say that without the help of her James Madison teachers — Linda Matthews, Lisa Piper and Carol Edwards — and the social benefits of the program, Sara's life might have been a maddening effort to catch up, as it is for many deaf children.
"Sara being a valedictorian is an awesome accomplishment," Dave said, "but she owes more to her first three years of education at Madison than anything."
Most deaf adults read at no better than a fourth-grade level, he said, and it is directly related to the education they have received. Without early detection of an impairment and early education, deaf children are doomed to fall way behind.
"People are becoming more educated generally (about deafness)," Sara said, signing and using Katie as her interpreter. "Some mistakes have been made with education, especially with No Child Left Behind, which has hurt deaf children.
"Not all (deaf) kids are the same. There are people who want to mainstream them versus those who want to send them to deaf schools. There are good and bad points for both. But these kids need to be reached during the window of early learning. If they're not, then problems start to show up."
The stress on a family with a deaf child can be enormous. Imagine learning a foreign language and at the same time having to teach it to a child, and that's what parents are up against.
In the Collins household, Katie, who is five years younger than Sara and plans on a career as a sign interpreter, was signing before she was speaking.
"We wanted to be signing all the time," Dave said, "even when I was cussing about the TV not working. You have to push yourself. If everyone can sign, a kid knows the family is in it for keeps."
Through Sara's experience, Dave, 43, became an advocate for deaf education via the Association for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children of Sheboygan County. The organization, of which he is president, has awarded more than $40,000 in scholarships over the past 10 years.
Sara said the day is coming when technological advances will prevail.
"In maybe 50 or 100 years, I don't think deafness will be considered a disability," she said. "The technology will be available and accessible to everyone. Deafness will just be a condition, like blue or brown eyes, and not a barrier."
Her father isn't about to differ. She has proved him wrong before, you know.
"Sara made me get off my duff in life," he said. "Failure's OK, but not trying isn't. My kid taught me that. She changed me from hoping to believing."
For Dave Collins, it was an epiphany, the moment when he realized that his special-needs daughter was very special indeed.
Sara, then 7, had spent four years in an alley behind Farnsworth Middle School doggedly trying to ride a bicycle — a major undertaking for a girl who was profoundly deaf and struggled with her balance. She had the cuts and scrapes to show for it.
"I begged her to stop and she never stopped," he said, estimating that Sara fell more than 1,200 times.
This time, however, she stayed on. And she hasn't stopped pedaling, really, making believers of her father and everyone else who thought she wouldn't get far in life with such a severe disability.
"I'm so proud of her, it's hard to describe," Dave said, his eyes watering. "She is not handicapped. She is deaf, and there's a difference.
"That spirit is in everything she does."
Oh, the places Sara Collins has been.
At the Wisconsin School for the Deaf in Delavan, she was part of a six-member team that finished third in the state in a mock-trial competition, knocking off accomplished hearing teams along the way. The school considers this one of the proudest moments in its 156-year history.
Exceptionally bright and an outstanding student, Sara passed on a full scholarship to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison, heading off instead to her dream school, Gallaudet University, in Washington, D.C.
Two weeks ago, she graduated from Gallaudet, an internationally renowned school for the deaf and hard of hearing, as valedictorian of its Class of 2008. In addition to English and American Sign Language, she knows Spanish and Italian.
Her sights are set on a career as an intelligence analyst for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. She already has applied with the bureau, and she will work for a Washington consulting firm in the interim. Down the road, law school is a possibility.
Yes, Dave Collins' little girl is still on the bike — and what a spectacular ride it has been.
"Sara has the ability to grab the now and make it blossom," said Diana Zolkowski of Kohler, who has known the Collins family, which now lives in Sheboygan Falls, for years.
"We're going to hear about Sara Collins in the future. She's going to go far. She's going to soar."
Sara, 22, back home for her sister Katie's graduation from North High School, credits the Sheboygan Area School District with giving her a head start on success. At age 2, she was part of a program at James Madison Elementary School that drew hearing-impaired children from throughout the county.
The program has since been discontinued, and early education for such children is now done in the home by roving teachers from the district or state. But Dave and Sara say that without the help of her James Madison teachers — Linda Matthews, Lisa Piper and Carol Edwards — and the social benefits of the program, Sara's life might have been a maddening effort to catch up, as it is for many deaf children.
"Sara being a valedictorian is an awesome accomplishment," Dave said, "but she owes more to her first three years of education at Madison than anything."
Most deaf adults read at no better than a fourth-grade level, he said, and it is directly related to the education they have received. Without early detection of an impairment and early education, deaf children are doomed to fall way behind.
"People are becoming more educated generally (about deafness)," Sara said, signing and using Katie as her interpreter. "Some mistakes have been made with education, especially with No Child Left Behind, which has hurt deaf children.
"Not all (deaf) kids are the same. There are people who want to mainstream them versus those who want to send them to deaf schools. There are good and bad points for both. But these kids need to be reached during the window of early learning. If they're not, then problems start to show up."
The stress on a family with a deaf child can be enormous. Imagine learning a foreign language and at the same time having to teach it to a child, and that's what parents are up against.
In the Collins household, Katie, who is five years younger than Sara and plans on a career as a sign interpreter, was signing before she was speaking.
"We wanted to be signing all the time," Dave said, "even when I was cussing about the TV not working. You have to push yourself. If everyone can sign, a kid knows the family is in it for keeps."
Through Sara's experience, Dave, 43, became an advocate for deaf education via the Association for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children of Sheboygan County. The organization, of which he is president, has awarded more than $40,000 in scholarships over the past 10 years.
Sara said the day is coming when technological advances will prevail.
"In maybe 50 or 100 years, I don't think deafness will be considered a disability," she said. "The technology will be available and accessible to everyone. Deafness will just be a condition, like blue or brown eyes, and not a barrier."
Her father isn't about to differ. She has proved him wrong before, you know.
"Sara made me get off my duff in life," he said. "Failure's OK, but not trying isn't. My kid taught me that. She changed me from hoping to believing."
for this outstanding young lady!