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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 1997)
By Amanda Schindler Staff Reporter As youngsters lined up last week end awaiting the judge’s decision on the best costume, they giggled and squirmed as children do. When the winner was announced, a little boy in a multicolored jack-in-the i box costume shyly stepped forward. Instead of applauding, though, his com panions shook their hands in the air. i The boy understood, and he grinned. He knew they were clapping for him - , clapping in sign language, that is. Saturday afternoon, hearing impaired people of all ages came 7 together at Grace Lutheran Church of Lincoln at the annual Halloween party sponsored by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln student group Friends of the Deaf Community. The event, in its fourth year, was organized to provide an opportunity for positive interactions for the deaf com munity, said Jennifer Herzog, a senior deaf education major and president of theFDC. Participants enjoyed various activi ties throughout the afternoon, including cookie decorating and pumpkin paint ing. The games provided the children a way to socialize with one another and “know that they are not alone,” said Cody Dusenberry, a senior physical education and deaf education major and FDC vice president. It was also an opportunity for stu dents to practice their signing skills and meet members of the deaf community. “There’s nothing like signing with a deaf person - you learn so much from it,” said Kaci Holmes, a freshman deaf education major. About 30 Lincoln children attended the event along with their parents. Mark Hessler, father of 4-year-old deaf triplets Sarah, Michael and Amy, said he attended the party because the children “need to make friends with their deaf peers. They need that expo sure to their culture.” Doug Druliner, whose daughter is hearing impaired, said that as deaf chil dren are usually a distinct minority, the Halloween party was a great chance for children to get out and be with others. Druliner’s daughter, Erin, a fifth grader at Prescott Elementary School, had fun with both hearing and deaf friends in her colorful pirate costume. Her father said she has to “straddle the two cultures. She reads lips a lot, and her speech is amazingly good.” But as Erin said, “understanding people is harder now that I go to a main stream school.” Program aims to promote literacy ■ Make A Difference Day volunteers read to children around Lincoln. **1 *'• By Sarah Baker Assignment Reporter The wide, innocent eyes of attentive children who love to hear stories were plentiful Saturday as UNL student volun teers took part in Make a Difference Day. Higher Education Nebraska Reads - Make a Difference Day, which promotes children’s litera cy, came to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Saturday and was sponsored by Student Involvement. The event gave UNL stu dents, staff and faculty members the chance to read to a child for 30 minutes at one of seven vol unteer locations around Lincoln. Student Involvement collect ed both used children’s books and donations toward the pur chase of children’s books last week. Since the turnout for dona tions was originally low, Student Involvement set up a donation booth in the Nebraska Union to try to generate more interest. Liz Rand, a graduate student with Student Involvement who was at one of the volunteer sites n Saturday, said interest in dona tions increased during the course of lastweek. . “We got more and more donations throughout the week,” Rand said. “We were able to send books to all of our community sites for children, so we felt good about that.” Rand said other parts of the program also turned out well. “We had a good-turnout of stu dent volunteers,” she said. “The reading response was great.” There were about 10 volun teers at each site, and the volun teers took turns reading stories to the children. Sophomore biology major Heather Root, who is a member of Alpha Phi Omega service fra ternity, volunteered to read as part of a project for her organiza tion. “I think it’s really important to give kids a good basis on read ing so they can learn to read themselves,” Root said. Senior psychology major Justin Fisher, who is also in the - service fraternity, agreed. “Activities like this are really important,” he said. “It helps teach these kids the importance of reading.” Daniel Luedert/DN TALKING SILENTLY, CODY DUSENBERRY, right, and Sarah Hesser, left, paint pumpkins during the Halloween party sponsored by the UNL Friends of the Deaf Community at Grace Lutheran Church Saturday. Eighth-grader Jonathan Scherling said he once attended the Nebraska School for the Deaf in Omaha, the only such school in the state. He no longer attends that school and said he misses it “Some of my friends don’t really talk to me very much,” he said. “You can smile (at each other) and that’s it” All students are welcome at the FDC monthly meetings, and sign lan guage proficiency is not necessary, Herzog said. The FDC’s next meeting is Nov. 4. For information, call Herzog at (402)472-7271. 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