Miss-Delectable
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http://www.modbee.com/life/friendsfamily/story/11476194p-12215859c.html
Brooke Myers knew she wanted to do sign language since she was 5 years old, when a woman came to her kindergarten class to demonstrate some basic signs. Myers, who is hearing, went home and told her mom: "I want to become a teacher for the deaf."
"I never changed my mind," said Myers, 27, of Modesto, who now works as an interpreter for the deaf. "I was just fascinated by it. I thought it was beautiful. It was something I felt very, very connected to."
Myers, who was born in Modesto, spent her early years in North Hollywood, later returning to Modesto and attending Davis High School. She is studying liberal studies at Modesto Junior College, intending to transfer to a four-year university next year.
Soon after her first exposure to sign language, Myers read a "Sesame Street" book about sign language — "I was mesmerized," she said. In sixth grade, she took a parks and recreation class on sign language.
When she was 14, Myers started volunteering every day in a class for deaf students at Lakewood Elementary School in Modesto. Myers was selected to study for a year at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., where she was one of only six hearing students among the 2,500-member student body. About 85 percent of the teachers were deaf. All classes were conducted in sign language.
Myers is trained in American Sign Language, one of three kinds of sign language used in the United States. Earlier this year Myers was certified as a sign language interpreter by the American Consortium of Certified Interpreters and passed the Educational Interpreter Proficiency Assessment.
She works as an interpreter for the Sacramento-based Eaton Interpreting Agency, which sends her to assignments around the region, from Yuba City and Woodland to Stockton and Sacramento. Assignments range from interpreting for deaf patients at medical and dental appointments to interpreting college courses for deaf students. She serves as a mentor to other people who are learning sign language and studying to pass assessment tests.
For the past eight years, Myers has volunteered at a camp for deaf youth between the ages of 7 to 17 — last year as its administrative director.
Myers also volunteers 50 to 60 hours a week with the local chapter of the American Red Cross. She began working with the Red Cross several months ago, wanting to be deployed to disaster areas in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. However, she found her services were needed closer to home.
"The office needed as much help as the disaster site," said Myers, who now helps process deployments and cases of hurricane evacuees living in the Modesto area. She is training to be a member of the Red Cross' Disaster Assessment Team, which responds to local disasters such as floods and house fires. In December, she will be deployed to help out at shelters around the country housing evacuees from hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma — "wherever the need is."
Question: What do you like about volunteering with the Red Cross?
It is empowering to know how every person can make a difference; no matter how big that difference is, it's still a difference.
Q: Is it rewarding to work at the camp for deaf children?
It's so much fun. For a lot of them they have never met a deaf adult, or even another deaf person. It's an opportunity they have to go to a place where every single person there can understand them and communicate with them. Everyone can communicate with each other.
Q: Do you think your generation is as involved in the community as it should be?
Not necessarily. I think that there are more negatives that you hear about my generation than positives. But we all have the ability to go help, and not all take advantage of that.
Q: What are some of the negatives that you hear?
People assume that because I'm young I'm not going to carry through with things. They are blown away when I stick it out. ... I hope that (my generation) starts to get taken seriously. We are determined to prove we do have a lot to offer. Though we are (known as) the generation with tattoos and piercings, we have just as much to offer as everyone else. I think we need to believe more in ourselves, because some (members of my generation) believe the negative stuff (about themselves).
Q: What do you do in your spare time?
I usually hang out with my friends, very low-key — or do homework. I like watching movies, talking and catching up.
Q: Do you have a favorite book?
Right now I'm in the middle of "I Know This Much is True" by Wally Lamb. My favorite book is still "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. It can be applied to children as well as adults. (The message of giving and accepting love) is important for people to remember.
Q: What are your favorite movies?
I think "Napoleon Dynamite" is absolutely hilarious; "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "Children of a Lesser God."
Q: What technology can you not live without?
My Sidekick. It is a mini computer; I can access the Internet, check e-mail, write text messages; it's a phone and a camera too. For my friends who are deaf, it is easy to text, like "Let's meet (at a place), I'll see you." When I'm interpreting and get an assignment, they can page me (with it and the location) and if I'm not familiar with (the location) I can go on the Internet and get directions on Mapquest.
Q: Do you have a favorite quotation or motto?
It would be "Hitch your wagon to a star" (by Ralph Waldo Emerson) or "The soul is healed by being with children" (by Fyodor Dostoevsky).
Brooke Myers knew she wanted to do sign language since she was 5 years old, when a woman came to her kindergarten class to demonstrate some basic signs. Myers, who is hearing, went home and told her mom: "I want to become a teacher for the deaf."
"I never changed my mind," said Myers, 27, of Modesto, who now works as an interpreter for the deaf. "I was just fascinated by it. I thought it was beautiful. It was something I felt very, very connected to."
Myers, who was born in Modesto, spent her early years in North Hollywood, later returning to Modesto and attending Davis High School. She is studying liberal studies at Modesto Junior College, intending to transfer to a four-year university next year.
Soon after her first exposure to sign language, Myers read a "Sesame Street" book about sign language — "I was mesmerized," she said. In sixth grade, she took a parks and recreation class on sign language.
When she was 14, Myers started volunteering every day in a class for deaf students at Lakewood Elementary School in Modesto. Myers was selected to study for a year at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., where she was one of only six hearing students among the 2,500-member student body. About 85 percent of the teachers were deaf. All classes were conducted in sign language.
Myers is trained in American Sign Language, one of three kinds of sign language used in the United States. Earlier this year Myers was certified as a sign language interpreter by the American Consortium of Certified Interpreters and passed the Educational Interpreter Proficiency Assessment.
She works as an interpreter for the Sacramento-based Eaton Interpreting Agency, which sends her to assignments around the region, from Yuba City and Woodland to Stockton and Sacramento. Assignments range from interpreting for deaf patients at medical and dental appointments to interpreting college courses for deaf students. She serves as a mentor to other people who are learning sign language and studying to pass assessment tests.
For the past eight years, Myers has volunteered at a camp for deaf youth between the ages of 7 to 17 — last year as its administrative director.
Myers also volunteers 50 to 60 hours a week with the local chapter of the American Red Cross. She began working with the Red Cross several months ago, wanting to be deployed to disaster areas in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. However, she found her services were needed closer to home.
"The office needed as much help as the disaster site," said Myers, who now helps process deployments and cases of hurricane evacuees living in the Modesto area. She is training to be a member of the Red Cross' Disaster Assessment Team, which responds to local disasters such as floods and house fires. In December, she will be deployed to help out at shelters around the country housing evacuees from hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma — "wherever the need is."
Question: What do you like about volunteering with the Red Cross?
It is empowering to know how every person can make a difference; no matter how big that difference is, it's still a difference.
Q: Is it rewarding to work at the camp for deaf children?
It's so much fun. For a lot of them they have never met a deaf adult, or even another deaf person. It's an opportunity they have to go to a place where every single person there can understand them and communicate with them. Everyone can communicate with each other.
Q: Do you think your generation is as involved in the community as it should be?
Not necessarily. I think that there are more negatives that you hear about my generation than positives. But we all have the ability to go help, and not all take advantage of that.
Q: What are some of the negatives that you hear?
People assume that because I'm young I'm not going to carry through with things. They are blown away when I stick it out. ... I hope that (my generation) starts to get taken seriously. We are determined to prove we do have a lot to offer. Though we are (known as) the generation with tattoos and piercings, we have just as much to offer as everyone else. I think we need to believe more in ourselves, because some (members of my generation) believe the negative stuff (about themselves).
Q: What do you do in your spare time?
I usually hang out with my friends, very low-key — or do homework. I like watching movies, talking and catching up.
Q: Do you have a favorite book?
Right now I'm in the middle of "I Know This Much is True" by Wally Lamb. My favorite book is still "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. It can be applied to children as well as adults. (The message of giving and accepting love) is important for people to remember.
Q: What are your favorite movies?
I think "Napoleon Dynamite" is absolutely hilarious; "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "Children of a Lesser God."
Q: What technology can you not live without?
My Sidekick. It is a mini computer; I can access the Internet, check e-mail, write text messages; it's a phone and a camera too. For my friends who are deaf, it is easy to text, like "Let's meet (at a place), I'll see you." When I'm interpreting and get an assignment, they can page me (with it and the location) and if I'm not familiar with (the location) I can go on the Internet and get directions on Mapquest.
Q: Do you have a favorite quotation or motto?
It would be "Hitch your wagon to a star" (by Ralph Waldo Emerson) or "The soul is healed by being with children" (by Fyodor Dostoevsky).