Vermont Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

DORM HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE 2007-2008 SCHOOL YEAR

Vermont Hall Girls Dorm - Our dorm is made up of all middle school students except for one elementary student. We have had a great year with a great group of students. Our highlight of the year was not a one time event, ours was a year long project of making memory books to show what happened during our year. We were lucky to receive the funding needed to buy supplies and for the film developing. We got printed paper and stickers and ribbons and many other embellishments for our pages. We made our scrap books with pages of sports, holidays and all the events that happened this year. The girls will have the books to show their families of all the things they have missed seeing like the Halloween costumes and the Prom and dressed in their Sports Uniforms.

The girls learned very fast how to do scrap booking and some became so creative I learned things from them. I heard from them so often, “do you have any new pictures for us?” We put our books on display at our open house and again for the Donor Recognition Dinner. We received many compliments. We had the pleasure of staff joining us on our scrap booking nights and some staff have asked to join us in the future. It was a wonderful experience and the girls have asked to continue next year. They have made wonderful memories to share with us all… A

Allie, Yazmin, Zoie, Greta, Veronika and Jane (RA).

The William Center Dorm- The school year is coming to an end and we have done a lot of things this year. The William Center opened their school year with seven (7) students. We had two (2) boys playing for the varsity soccer team and played all through the soccer season. They played their best and went to every practice and worked hard in the cold weather. They never gave up.

Some students participated in the swimming program at the YMCA in Keene, NH. They had so much energy swimming and were very tired at the end of the day.

When the soccer and swimming season ended we took a week off from sports. Thanksgiving was coming up and we went to a big Thanksgiving dinner at the Austine School cafeteria. Everyone enjoyed themselves and the food was delicious.

Basketball season started and we had some students who played for the varsity team. They worked really hard almost every day to get prepared for every game. We hosted the tip off tournament here and we played really hard. We went to many games and we also went to Rochester and Buffalo, NY. The boys went back to Buffalo the play in the ESDAA Tournament and lost in the championship game. They were still very proud of themselves.

WE had one student who participated on the Special Olympic Basketball team. He really worked hard and was able to score some points. WE were very proud of him! He went to the tournament and the team won the championship for the second year in a row.

The William Center dorm hosted a holiday dinner in the dorm. All staff brought their own pot luck and it was delicious! The students decorated the dorm, set up the Christmas Tree and the overnight staff made a lot of decorative snowflakes. It made the dorm feel like winter and Christmas.

We faced a long winter with many storms and we had a lot of snow. The snow did not stop the students from doing activities. They went sledding every day, made several big snowmen and were always outside. The boys helped shovel around the dorm after each snowfall and they got paid for their work.

In January we welcomed two (2) new boys from New York to the William Center program. They adjusted to the program very well and are enjoying themselves.

All year we had bonfires with Smores, once a month. In the wintertime we had Smores and hot chocolate by the big fire. Every Thursday the students watched movies and socialized in the snack bar with the High School students. Once a month we had a big screen movie night with popcorn. We also had a monthly birthday party for th students.

Several William Center students received certification of participation at the sports banquet. Several of these students joined the High School Prom at The Learning Center (TLC) and had so much fun. The 2007-2008 school year is coming to an end.

Jose Reyes

Vermont Hall Boys and Elementary Boys Dorm - This has been another great year in the dorm! We’ve had a variety of activities this year ranging from every year traditions to new adventures. Everyone joined in on the soccer and basketball teams. As usual, we played on two (2) different teams, Magic Arrows and Varsity Arrows. The basketball players on the Magic Arrows team took a trip to Springfield, Massachusetts to see the world famous Harlem Globetrotters! We had a wonderful time and were amazed with their tricks!

This past fall and spring we continued our swimming program at the Keene, NH YMCA. All of our swimmers and half hour lessons then free swim. As always, they enjoy their time playing with all of the equipment the YMCA has to offer! In the spring we also played volleyball with other dorm students every Wednesday night. We had a blast continuing this tradition. The Elementary dorm enjoyed dinner out and shopping every Wednesday in Keene.

Some of our students had the opportunity to be involved in a lay with the New England Youth Theater of Brattleboro. They attended rehearsals three (3) times a week for over a month to prepare for their production. Hearing students were also involved in the play and they worked together to create a wonderful performance while the elementary boys engaged in creative play here in the dorm.

Late spring we invited students from the American School for the Deaf (ASD) to join us for dinner and a dodgeball tournament! It was an awesome night!! We played several games and even added some twists to the end: Boys vs. Girls and Students vs. Staff! Soon we will be headed down to ASD ourselves for our Middle School Prom.

As our year comes to an end, we are looking forward to our end of the year trip to Danvers, MA to visit Coco Key Indoor Water Park! We are very excited for the water slides, wave pool and even a dip-in movie theater. A perfect ending for the boys’ summer to begin.

Kris, Rebecca and Faythe

High School Girls Dorm - Greetings everyone! This year has flown by so quickly; I can remember the first day of school and now it is almost over. (sobbing) I’m sure the girls need a break from school though. We did so many things this year; soccer, basketball… speaking of basketball we went to Rochester and Buffalo, NY for basketball games. It was a very long road trip for the girls but they really enjoyed doing it. We would love to do it again next year. We also went to a basketball tournament in RI and the girls played their hearts out! We won the Sportsmanship Award! I’m so proud of them!!!

We shopped and went to restaurants and shopped and shopped some more. We went to the mall every month. This was a record for the girls and for me.

We also went to Coco Keys Resort in Danvers, MA for our end of the year dorm trip. We had a blast swimming indoors and went to Chili’s Restaurant and drove through a really bad thunderstorm! What a way to end a great dorm year. I’m really looking forward to a great year next year with the girls.

Jill Donohue

High School Boys Dorm - We are nearing the end of the school year. The high school dorm is looking forward to summer vacation.

In the high school dorm we have engaged in a variety of enjoyable and educational activities. These include everything from sports to parties to dances to trips.

Since the school year started we have been busy with soccer and basketball season. In the spring we went bowling every Tuesday. Our other activities were softball, volleyball and going downtown. If it rained and we could not be outside we went to the snack bar and played music, DVDs, pool, ping pong, poker, educational games, built model cars and danced.

We had a good time this spring season. The high school boys have made a lot of progress in achieving their goals. We are really looking forward to next year.

Manny Rosa

Independent Living Skills Dorm - Once again, the year has sped by; can the years be getting shorter? ILS dorm had a wonderful 2007-2008 complete with fun, learning, successes, attempts and lots of socializing.

It is hard to pick just one single activity as the highlight of the year, but we can describe a few of our very favorites.

This year’s basketball season was filled with pride and excitement. During the course of the season the Austine Special Olympics team improves tremendously; not just the play, but the attitudes and big hearts they carried with them.

We would hold a weekly practice and go over routine drills. During practices I would stress the importance of teamwork and being able to bond with one another. I also stressed that it was very important to have good sportsmanship and to show respect to their peers. The games were the highlight of everyone’s day. Everyone seemed to enjoy watching our team play against local teams. As the season went on, the team played better and better. As a reward for all the hard work this team has done, we got to come home with the 1st place finish from the Vermont Special Olympics Tournament at Norwich University.

I was proud to be a part of the team and I am looking forward to the next season!

Coach and Para Ian Fournier

This outing was a short drive to Newfane, but was huge on delivery. The ILS dorm went on a field trip in the spring when the weather was perfect for making maple syrup: warm days and cold nights.

The various grades of syrup were on display on the window sill. Light showed the colors, ranging from light to dark. Sugar house owner and operator Bob explained the process, how the sap is boiled down and the water is boiled out. It takes a lot of sap for just a little syrup. This has to be a work of love! Bob was kind enough to give each of us a sample of his delicious syrup. Even though it waas raining outside, it was warm and friendly in Bob’s syrup house. Thanks Bob.

Para Tammy Stearns

You may have read about our exciting leap into the entertainment world, the circus. This is one of those activities that is both fun and good physical development. We all took risks and can be proud of our achievements. I was especially impressed with ILS students’ willingness to try, try, try and their coordination improvement. Lets’ do it again next year!

RA Simrin Socci

Of course swimming is always a big hit and it’s not hard to see the students gain in their water safety skills confidence. Who doesn’t like to go out to eat once in a while? We aimed for once a month; we would discuss what kind of food we wanted, then talked about restaurant names, cooking. Another monthly ILS activity in the dorm that is also enjoyable; sitting at the big table feels like one big family eating together.

We hope you have a little better understanding of our dorm and the things we do. Of course, this is not the full picture of ILS dorm life, so please stop by sometime to see us in action.

Thanks to a great ILS dorm staff. Thanks to all the ILS parents for being so supportive and thanks to the students for helping to make this year fantastic.

RA Debbie Reed-Savory

Please visit our website: www.vcdhh.org We will have pictures of your children during Austine Green Mountain Lions Camp! They would love to know you saw them while they were here at camp. Have a wonderful summer! See you in August.