The Brunch Bunch Deaf Cultural Experience

West Des Moines, IA 50266 Phone: (515) 713-1313

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A Photo Story by Matilynn Anonson Bodwell

Immersed is a photo story about a trip I took with the other Officers of Deaf Cultural Experience, our teacher and some American Sign Laguage III students, to the Iowa School for the Deaf.

Below: We the 13 of us (only 5 pictured) loaded into our van of Friday March 31st, headed to Council Bluffs, Iowa/ Omaha, Nebraska for the weekend. We are going because we are volunteering at he Iowa School for the Deaf’s Deaf Cultural Celebration. Left to right: Lauren, Ella, Felicity, Madi, Tayllor. Right: Our group of all 13 students and instructors and the Deaf Cultural Celebration on April 1st at the Iowa School for the Deaf. Front Row (left to right): Lauren, Taylor, Kylee, Mati, Madi. Back row (left to right): Bailey, T, Hannah, Jordan, OB, Felicity, Ella, Heidi.

Left: (from left to right) Kylee, Madi, and Taylor eat breckfast on Saturday morning, in our AirBnB, before the day long event.

Above: Friday night afterward arriving to Council Bluffs, Iowa, Taylor does some homework, while T, Bailey, Felicity, and I play Scrabble and others take on dinner duty.

Right: Saturday Morning we load in tho the van to head to the school. Front to back, left to right, Fleicity, Mati, Kylee, Ella, T, and Bailey.

On Saturday, April 1st, we volunteered at the Deaf Cultural Celebration carnival. There were classic carnival games, an obsticle course and a bounce house. Kids earned tickets by playing games and then could use those tickets to earn prizes.

Iowa School for the Deaf is not just a ‘special’ school. It is an extraordinary language and learning environment for children who sign, talk or use both communication methods. We welcome children who have cochlear implants, hearing aids, or who use no assistive hearing devices. We value our students’ strengths and design individual learning goals centered around each student’s unique needs.

In the right environment, amazing progress is made. Small successes occur every day, becoming large accomplishments every year. We invite you to explore our website and learn how our students thrive in a language-based academic and social environment.