Special event for deaf and hard of hearing students, teachers | Events

The eighth annual “Hands Alive” fair is scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday, March 15, at Yellow Creek Baptist Church’s community building. Teachers of the deaf and hard-of-hearing from across the region organized this event, with support from the Green River Regional Education Cooperative, Kentucky School for the Deaf, Owensboro Health and Owensboro Municipal Utilities.

Deaf and hard-of-hearing students in grades preschool through 12 will attend this event. The students are from across western Kentucky, including Daviess County, Owensboro, Warren County, McLean County, Barren County, Glasgow, Muhlenberg County and Webster County.

In addition to students, the event will also be attended by school staff members who work with deaf and hard-of-hearing students; family members; and deaf community members.  

The fair will include game booths, arts and crafts, team building activities, interactive storytelling and carnival games. A parent workshop on Internet safety will be offered simultaneously by Michelle Niehaus, who serves as program administrator for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services at the Division of Behavioral Health.

“Students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing are often isolated either at school or at home, never meeting another child like themselves,” said Heidi Givens, itinerant teacher of the deaf and hard-of-hearing for Daviess County Public Schools and 2013 Kentucky Elementary Teacher of the Year. “This event is our way of getting all these students together, to form bonds and to learn from each other.”

Givens said most of the volunteers working at this event will be deaf and hard-of-hearing adults, which will provide additional inspiration to the students attending. “Besides meeting other students like themselves, they will also meet adults from various careers,” she said. “These children will be able to see what their potential could be.”