Our ASL 202 classes had a fantastic field trip to the Deaf School in Gooding, Idaho. Our students had great hands-on experiences interacting with elementary students in their classrooms and the lunchroom. The elementary students had prepared interview questions and asked about college life and what our students were majoring in.
The principal gave us a tour of the sprawling campus. During the tour, we met audiologists, speech-language pathologists, psychologists, and many other support staff. The tour concluded with two high school students showing us the gym and newly renovated workout room.
We then headed over to the Deaf Museum! There, we got to see and handle many key technologies that have assisted the Deaf over the ages, such as teletypewriters, captioning machines, hearing aids, doorbell signals, and alarms. Some artifacts were related to typical employment that many Deaf people took on, such as operating a printing press.
The school’s spirit lives on through relics such as student art and various projects. One display is devoted to world-renowned artist James Castle, who attended the Deaf School. The campus has undergone many changes as buildings have been replaced by fire, earthquakes, and upgrades. The outside walls became inside walls as they connected buildings.
Our students had so much fun on this trip! The excitement on the way back to Boise was high, and they plotted their next adventure to Gallaudet in Washington, D.C., or Paris, France, where the first Deaf School was established.
We are deeply thankful to the World Languages Department for supporting this annual trip, which we started three years ago. Our upcoming students will have this excellent opportunity to apply the language and cultural knowledge they have gained in the classroom at Boise State.