Vlog by Firefly
Calisthenics? We are so up for it! At the beginning of YLC, most of us didn’t like morning exercises, but today it started to grow on us. The campers will return to home and continue their morning calisthenics, we hope! Morning exercises rock our socks off!
We had a guest speaker today! From Rochester, New York, we welcomed Dr. Peter Hauser to YLC! Peter graduated from Central Connecticut State University in 1994. He then went to Gallaudet University, where he obtained his MA degree in 1998 and his PhD degree in 2000. He currently works as the Director of Deaf Studies Lab at NTID and as Director of Neurocongitive Research at Gallaudet. Today he gave us, the YLCERS, a workshop on “Cultural Knowledge: Identity and Cultural Capital.”
We learned that deaf and hearing people’s brains function differently, deaf people use both sides of their brains because we are visual people while the hearing people tend to use only the left side of their brain. The left side of the brain focuses on linguistics and speech. The right side of the brain focuses on creativity and the use of space. In Peter's studies, there is living proof of the idea that the more visual space used, the more stimulation people get in the right sides of their brains!
After explaining two different aspects on deaf and hearing people’s brains, we moved onto the topic of our own cultures and the influence on us. We learned that we have two different kind of cultural influences. The first one is cultural capital which represents the major society of the United States and the second one is the community culture wealth. It is something that the minority has, such as Deaf culture. The ability to be able to integrate ourselves in both cultures improves our ability to succeed in the world. After the presentation, we had a chance to discuss it with our groups and we were able to determine how the things that came up in the workshop apply to what we learned in NAD YLC. We also discussed how these cultural influences will become present in our lives after YLC.
We truly enjoyed the workshop by Dr. Peter Hauser!
“I learned that the locations we all come from lead us to have different cultures and ways to look at life.” – Anthony Finocchio, Camper
For tonight's evening program we had our ASL night! The two hosts, Jordan Ramser and Jay Werner, did great job planning and running the event! There were no judges tonight because ASL night is all about having fun! Campers and staff lined up by the stage to tell their jokes and perform ASL stories! Some stories were so funny that we were all rolling on the floor of Leadership Hall laughing! All in all, ASL night was a major success, we were thrilled to have the opportunity to practice and gain experience being on stage and polish up on our storytelling skills!For fireside we had two speakers: Peter Hauser and Amy Siebert! Peter summarized his life, explaining about how he was adopted, and how he became deaf after being sick with spinal meningitis. Peter explained that when he became deaf he didn't realize he was deaf, he thought the whole world had gone silent! He resisted learning sign language for a long time. He finally became immersed in the deaf community later during college, he realized that he had a passion for deaf research. He opened the floor for questions and the campers were definitely curious! His stories made us laugh, especially his most embarrassing moment! We wont publish it here for the world to see, but if you ever meet Peter, see if he will tell you. We guarantee you will laugh so hard that your sides will split! After Peter wrapped up, Amy Siebert, YLC staff, took the floor. She explained that she has a deaf family and a very close relationship with her parents and siblings. She explained how grateful she was to her parents for preparing her for everything she would ever need to face. However, one thing her parents never prepared her for was the loss of a friend. A few weeks before her high school graduation, a friend of hers committed suicide. She explained her experience dealing with the loss of her friend without being able to know or understand exactly why he did it. She explained that her friend had been bullied, and that it seemed that he didn't really talk to anyone about his depression. She left the campers with some valuable advice: if you feel depressed or suicidal, talk to someone; killing or hurting yourself will not solve anything. We were all touched by Amy's story, some of us got emotional thinking of the pain she had to go through.
Esther Fass and Kassie Stutler watching campers talk about their culture.
Greg Beattie watching as the campers discuss Peter Hauser's presentation!
Amy Siebert gives her input to a group of campers.
Richard Bertling pondering during the group discussion.
What's on your mind, John Hagner?
Jillian Apfel listening to her fellow campers.
Leo Curry watches as Dathan Brown talks about his background
Uh oh, Lanna Hostovsky has her mischievous smile on her face!
Dr. Peter Hauser talking about how deaf and hearing people's brains are different!
Assistant Chef Martin Dale-Hench preparing lunch for our hungry campers!
Just two days left of YLC? We all gathered together at the end of the night to cry YLC '09 GOOD NIGHT, knowing that this tradition will soon be put to rest until next year for future YLCers.
