Miss-Delectable
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http://www.registercitizen.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16108049&BRD=1652&PAG=461&dept_id=12530&rfi=6
WINSTED - A small group of Northwestern Connecticut Community College students protested Friday afternoon to raise awareness of what they say may be the end of the only accredidated interpreting program for the deaf in the state.
The school has decided to halt enrollment for its interpreting preparation program while it is re-evaluated, school officials said.
"I want to work with deaf people later on--I want to be an interpreter," Irene Rivera, 24, said Thursday outside the school.
Rivera, who is enrolled in the interpreter preparation program, said that there is a lack of interpreters in the state and that the enrollment freeze does nothing to benefit the deaf community.
One of the problems with the program is that it is attracting little interest and some classes have only two or three students, college President Barbara Douglass said Friday.
"That is not an effective use of the college money," Douglass said.
The re-evaluation of the program is meant to determine its strengths and weaknesses, to assure that the program will be in a healthier state when enrollment continues after a year, she said.
Some students in the program feel that the school administration is not being entirely forthcoming, Rivera said. Students have volunteered to help recruit new students for the program but were told by the administration that their assistance was not needed, she said.
Also on hand Friday was Miss Deaf Connecticut Jessica Tanner.
"I support this cause 100 percent," she said. "I’m doing everything I can to help."
Due to a shortfall of interpreters in Connecticut, members of the deaf community are sometimes forced to go without an interpreter and miss valuable information when attending functions, she said.
"It’s not fair to deprive us of our rights as American citizens," Tanner said.
Douglass, and members of the group of protesters, attended the Collegiate Education for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing(CEDHH) advisory board meeting at Capitol College, Hartford, on Thursday, Feb. 9, in which Douglass explained the plans for the re-evaluation.
"One of (the protesters) apologized to me for the misunderstanding that the program was going to be closed," Douglass said.
The CEDHH program at NCCC spends $1 million a year on educating students and serves 30 students a semester, she said.
Tanner, 25, will be a candidate for Miss Deaf United States this summer in Palm Springs, Calif. If she wins, she will become the goodwill ambassador for the National Association for the Deaf.
WINSTED - A small group of Northwestern Connecticut Community College students protested Friday afternoon to raise awareness of what they say may be the end of the only accredidated interpreting program for the deaf in the state.
The school has decided to halt enrollment for its interpreting preparation program while it is re-evaluated, school officials said.
"I want to work with deaf people later on--I want to be an interpreter," Irene Rivera, 24, said Thursday outside the school.
Rivera, who is enrolled in the interpreter preparation program, said that there is a lack of interpreters in the state and that the enrollment freeze does nothing to benefit the deaf community.
One of the problems with the program is that it is attracting little interest and some classes have only two or three students, college President Barbara Douglass said Friday.
"That is not an effective use of the college money," Douglass said.
The re-evaluation of the program is meant to determine its strengths and weaknesses, to assure that the program will be in a healthier state when enrollment continues after a year, she said.
Some students in the program feel that the school administration is not being entirely forthcoming, Rivera said. Students have volunteered to help recruit new students for the program but were told by the administration that their assistance was not needed, she said.
Also on hand Friday was Miss Deaf Connecticut Jessica Tanner.
"I support this cause 100 percent," she said. "I’m doing everything I can to help."
Due to a shortfall of interpreters in Connecticut, members of the deaf community are sometimes forced to go without an interpreter and miss valuable information when attending functions, she said.
"It’s not fair to deprive us of our rights as American citizens," Tanner said.
Douglass, and members of the group of protesters, attended the Collegiate Education for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing(CEDHH) advisory board meeting at Capitol College, Hartford, on Thursday, Feb. 9, in which Douglass explained the plans for the re-evaluation.
"One of (the protesters) apologized to me for the misunderstanding that the program was going to be closed," Douglass said.
The CEDHH program at NCCC spends $1 million a year on educating students and serves 30 students a semester, she said.
Tanner, 25, will be a candidate for Miss Deaf United States this summer in Palm Springs, Calif. If she wins, she will become the goodwill ambassador for the National Association for the Deaf.