Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
Hattiesburg American - www.hattiesburgamerican.com - Hattiesburg, Miss.
Twenty-two-year-old Zachary Breland of Petal enrolled at Southern Miss with dreams of earning a radio, television and film degree. Instead, his exceptional talents gave his goals a 180-degree turn toward deaf education.
His first encounter with university-level sign language occurred when he decided to take a class for fun in substitution for a verbal foreign language. He signed up in spring 2005 for American Sign Language 1 under the direction of Dr. Gerald Buisson, assistant professor in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences in the College of Health.
Buisson said he noticed something different about his student and encouraged Breland to pursue his newfound talent even more. Breland decided to get his minor in deaf education.
The Mississippi Quality Assurance Screening test confirmed Breland's talent when he scored a two. It is not uncommon for first-time test takers to receive between a zero and one, Buisson said. The highest score is a three.
"There are a lot of people who did not pass the Quality Assurance Evaluation, yet Zach did," Buisson said.
"I had only finished American Sign Language 3 four months before. It seemed crazy that I was now preparing to take the state test to get my interpreter license," Breland said.
Buisson said Breland can go on to accomplish a number of things with his ASL interpreting ability. He is already the president of A Show of Hands sign language club at Southern Miss and a member of the Mississippi Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. But he's not stopping there.
He recently accepted an interpreter position at Moselle Elementary School, and eventually, he wants to attend Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., a university for the deaf or hard of hearing, to obtain a master's degree and then perhaps a doctoral degree.
Twenty-two-year-old Zachary Breland of Petal enrolled at Southern Miss with dreams of earning a radio, television and film degree. Instead, his exceptional talents gave his goals a 180-degree turn toward deaf education.
His first encounter with university-level sign language occurred when he decided to take a class for fun in substitution for a verbal foreign language. He signed up in spring 2005 for American Sign Language 1 under the direction of Dr. Gerald Buisson, assistant professor in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences in the College of Health.
Buisson said he noticed something different about his student and encouraged Breland to pursue his newfound talent even more. Breland decided to get his minor in deaf education.
The Mississippi Quality Assurance Screening test confirmed Breland's talent when he scored a two. It is not uncommon for first-time test takers to receive between a zero and one, Buisson said. The highest score is a three.
"There are a lot of people who did not pass the Quality Assurance Evaluation, yet Zach did," Buisson said.
"I had only finished American Sign Language 3 four months before. It seemed crazy that I was now preparing to take the state test to get my interpreter license," Breland said.
Buisson said Breland can go on to accomplish a number of things with his ASL interpreting ability. He is already the president of A Show of Hands sign language club at Southern Miss and a member of the Mississippi Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. But he's not stopping there.
He recently accepted an interpreter position at Moselle Elementary School, and eventually, he wants to attend Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., a university for the deaf or hard of hearing, to obtain a master's degree and then perhaps a doctoral degree.