HNY

President’s Corner

Happy New Year!  Hope your holidays with families and friends were good.  We look forward to accomplish some events in 2015.  Please watch for announcement soon.

The showing of Originally Hero: The SuperDeafy was successful!  A total of 145 people attended.  Money earned at this showing will go to the 2015 UAD biennial conference. Thanks go to our community for their support.

The next biennial conference will be held in Provo on October 16 and 17, 2015. Do save the date! Informational announcements will be posted soon through UAD Announce and UAD Bulletin. Do join us!  We will have UTRID in partnership with the UAD at the conference.  We have posted it for you to pay in advance for conference.  We offer different plans, like early bird, seniors/students. Check it out on our UAD website.

We strongly encourage you to join UAD as a member and support UAD; membership strengthens the organization. UAD needs your voice and your opinion to help move it forward in the future. Membership is only $15 a year and is tax deductible.

In addition, we hope you will consider donating to UAD before the end of year.  It is 100% tax deductible.

To join, go to uad.org and click on ‘Join Us’. To donate, contact Adele Sigoda at fab622@comcast.net.

Thank you,
Philippe Montalette
President
pmontalette@me.com

Wedding Bells

September 5 – Among friends and family members in the Dunlap backyard, Roberta Dunlap and Josué Bolaños were united in marriage. A reception followed afterwards. Roberta works as a Deaf Mentor/ASL Orientation Specialist with the Parent Infant Program Department, Utah School for the Deaf and Blind (USDB).  She is also studying for her master’s degree in Teaching ASL at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado. Josué is a truck driver for Eagle Express of America. They plan to honeymoon in London and Paris soon.  They currently live in West Valley City.

December 13, 2014 – Pamela Palmer to Shane Pace, united in matrimony at the home of Shane’s cousin in Spanish Fork.  A reception followed the rites.  Their honeymoon was spent in Heber City.  They plan to visit Shane’s brother in St. George on December 31.

Baptism

Mauna Wilson’s granddaughter, Kelli Banta, was baptized on November 1 at the Stake Center in West Valley City.  Kelli, who is 8, is a daughter of Jim and Becky Banta of West Valley City.

Jean Massieu School News

Aimee Breinholt

Happy Holidays from JMS!  We want to thank all of those who came and supported our Winter Program.  The students and staff did a great job.  We want to add a special thanks to Sarah Leathers for her work and dedication to make this a success!

We are excited to welcome in the new year and look forward to what it holds.  Our basketball teams are in the middle of their season.  We would love your support to help cheer them to victory.  Our girls have a game at Providence Hall January 13th at 5pm.  The boys have 3 home games in January.  Come show your support on the 9th, 16th and 21st at the Deaf Center starting at 5:30pm.

Please come and join us for the Western States Basketball and Cheerleading Classic (WSBCC) January 28th-February 1st.  For more information visit http://www.wsbcc2015.com.  We are looking for volunteers in all capacities.  To volunteer visit www.usdb.org/wsbcc.

Our next family night activity will be January 8th from 6-8pm at the Deaf Center.  We will be providing a suicide prevention training.  Come join us for food and opportunity to mingle and learn.

Our Lego Robotics team will compete in the annual competition January 10th.  JMS and KBS students will be participating in the Battle of the Books competition on January 15th and 22nd.  We are excited to see our students’ hard work demonstrated through these events.

JMS currently has an opening for an auditory habilitationist who will work with students specifically in a speech, listening and language capacity.  This is a part time position.  Please help us spread the word to find a qualified teacher.  For any inquiries please contact me at aimeeb@usdb.org.  To apply for the position, submit your resume, transcripts and a copy of your teaching license to carold@usdb.org or mail them to USDB Human Resource Office, 742 Harrison Blvd., Ogden, UT 84404.

We hope you have a merry holiday season and look forward to working together to make 2015 a wonderful and memorable year.

January 2015 Holidays

1    New Year Day
5    National Bird Day
19  Martin Luther King’s Birthday
25  Opposite Day
26  Australia Day

Deaf PIP Update

Paula Pittman

Christmas is a magical time of year for our babies in PIP.  We love to see their delight at the pretty colors and lights of the season, and we want to make it a memorable and fun time for them.  This year we were able to create a day of Christmas fun for our PIP babies and their families.  On December 5, we hosted our first ever PIP Polar Express event.  Our PIP “Elves” (our PIP Staff adorned with their PIP Elf hats) waited at each of the FrontRunner stops from Provo to Ogden to greet families as they entered our PIP Polar Express (disguised as the FrontRunner), giving them day passes to ride UTA Transit (provided at no charge from UTA!).  Families boarded buses at the Salt Lake Central Station and they were all taken to the Downtown Radisson Hotel, where they waited wide-eyed to met our signing Santa. The Radisson prepared a beautiful hot chocolate bar, which children young and old enjoyed, and every child waited with excitement for their chance to sit in Santa’s lap.

As the children finished visiting with Santa, they played games and were able to watch the Polar Express movie and enjoy their gifts, hot chocolate and candy treats.  The Radisson generously allowed families a reduced rate if they wanted to turn our Polar Express event into a full holiday event and stay overnight downtown to take advantage of all that downtown Salt Lake City has to offer during the Christmas season, and several families took advantage of that opportunity.

We had a feeling that this event would be a popular one, but we had no idea just how popular it would be.  We typically have about 100 people who will attend family events such as this, so we planned for 120.  But we underestimated the magic of Christmas, Santa and the Polar Express!  We had 278 people who registered for the event, and well over 200 who actually showed up for this event.  It was a busy morning, but it was exciting seeing the children signing and talking to Santa, to sense the excitement in the hearts of these little ones to ride the train and get a chance to meet Santa and get a gift! Each family also got a copy of the Polar Express book so they could relive the day and talk about their event as they read through the book.  It was a wonderful and exciting day for everyone involved, and we hope to make it an annual event.

Our thanks to the Radisson Hotel, who gave us reduced rates for the room and the food, to UTA for the free family passes, to Dale Boam (our generous and gracious Santa) who gave up a full morning and was completely enchanting and delightful with each and every child who climbed on his lap), to Michelle Green and Susan Westergard who worked tirelessly to fill gift bags and wrap gifts and organize people and items for the event, and to all of my PIP Elves who, as always, gave of their time and energy to ensure that the families we serve in PIP have the very best experience they can while they are in our Program.  We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe and enjoyable holiday season!

Utah School for the Deaf News

Michelle Tanner

December is a wonderful time of year! Classes worked hard on winter program performances that were a joy to watch.  Our Parent Infant Program held a Polar Express event in conjunction with the UTA.  Parents and families climbed aboard the Frontrunner and were given snacks as they traveled.  Children had the opportunity to meet with Santa and watched Polar Express.  It is our hope to make this an annual event.

Basketball is also in full swing.  This year we have a large boys’ and girls’ team, as well as a cheerleading squad.  The boys and girls are playing hard and learning a great deal.  We hope that some of you will take time out of your busy schedules to watch a few of the games that will be held at the Deaf Center.  The games will continue throughout January and February and we would love all the support you can give.

In January, USDB will be hosting the Western States Basketball and Cheerleading Classic January 28th – 31st.  This year there will be five teams competing.  They are: the Phoenix Day School, Arizona School for the Deaf, Washington School for the Deaf, Oregon School the Deaf and, of course, the Utah Schools for the Deaf.  Events will be held at the Sanderson Community Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and Taylorsville High School.  We are in need of volunteers and sponsors to help make this event a success.  If you are willing to help out, please sign up as a volunteer at www.usdb.org/wsbcc.  We would appreciate your assistance in making this event a success for all our visitors.  If you want to get involved, please visit the WSBCC website at www.wsbcc2015.com.  Information about the events, schedules, results of games and even a live feed can be found on this site.  We hope there will be a large turnout for the games and encourage all of you to come and support our team.

We are still looking for educational interpreters.  At USDB these positions interpret during school hours and are benefitted positions.  This means they are eligible for insurance and can accrue leave.  If anyone is interested in these or other positions at USDB, please go to the state jobs website at http://statejobs.utah.gov/ and search under the category of “Education” for all locations.  We are considered part of department “400 – Utah State Board of Education.”  We are looking for quality people to work with the students we cherish.

Have an enjoyable holiday season!

Deaf Indian Dancer Performs at U of U Games

Valerie Kinney

If you were at the University of Utah basketball game on Friday, November 21, or at the football game on Saturday, November 22, you were treated to halftime entertainment given by the Ute tribe of Fort Duchesne. The University of Utah hosted the Utes as part of the Native American Heritage Night.

The Utes from Fort Duchesne included Clarinda Jack Weston, an alumna of Utah School for the Deaf, class of 1963. Her son, Louis, also participated in the entertainment.  She resides in Fort Duchesne but also lives with her daughter in St. Paul, MN when she is needed there.

The Utes (basketball team) competed against the University of California-Riverside and won, 88 to 42.  The Running Utes (football team) competed against Arizona and lost 42-10.

Seniors Elect Leaders

Valerie Kinney

The Wasatch Deaf Seniors recently had elections for 2015 leaders:

Richard Oscarson Leader
Johnny MurrayAssistant Leader
Ana Martinez1st trustee
John Lowell2nd trustee
Randall Furlow3rd trustee
Arlene Lowell Sergeant at Arms

At the same meeting, the membership approved a set of guidelines to govern the Wednesday get-togethers.

Ogden Case Manager in Ogden Once a Month

A case manager from Sanderson Center will be in Ogden once a month! The next visit will be January 15. See flyer for more details. All services are free!

Are you Deaf, Deaf-Blind or Hard of Hearing and need support with:

Housing
Budgeting
Food Resources
Legal Needs
Employment
Social Security Issues
Mental Health Counseling & Referrals

Every 3rd Thursday of month, a case manager will be available in Ogden at
950 E. 25th St. Suite 200, Ogden, UT 84401

If you have questions or wish to set up an appointment please contact:
Stephen Persinger
801-657-5204
spersinger@utah.gov

WSBCC_Flyer

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