Tuesday, September 30, 2014

New additions: hearing impaired interpreters

Here at John I Burton, we have had the pleasure of welcoming two new and very important people to our faculty. Chad and Sydnei Cantrell are our new deaf interpreters. The need for them arose last year when Autumn, a hearing impaired student, joined John I. Burton. 

Chad and Sydnei are siblings whose parents are both deaf; therefore, they learned to sign at very early stages in their lives. They are originally  from Florida, but moved to Wise because of an illness in the family. Before deciding to become  an interpreter, Sydnei was a full time nanny to six month old twins and a two year old child. Chad was a wrestling coach.

Sydnei and Chad started working in the Norton City Public School system this year and are enjoying the year so far. Since they already had the skills to be interpreters, they went to Richmond and got certified to work with students who have hearing disabilities. John I. Burton has one deaf impaired student and Norton Elementary and Middle School has a student with the same disability, so our school system had a high demand for these two important people. 

While Chad and Sydnei work at the high school and elementary school, they are also attending college. Syndei is studying deaf education while Chad is pursuing sports medicine. These two very important people have benefited our school system with their skills. Hopefully they will decide to further their career here at John I. Burton.