to aid deaf Budget won’t cover hiring needs

The archers take grip of their bows, select their arrows and focus on their targets 50 yards away. The Queen’s Championship is at stake as 30 participants approach the line and take aim, pulling back on their bows’ strings.

A drop of sweat rolls down Nikolaos Phaistos’s cheek, and the wind sways his body as he holds 30 pounds of tension on his 17th century-style bow.

“Fire!” the master archer yelled.

Arrows whistle off their bows and fly through the air, raining on their targets. After all the arrows have been fired, Phaistos saw that he had been defeated by a fraction of an inch and was out of contention to be the Queen’s Champion in archery.

Instead of dwelling on his defeat, however, Phaistos turned to his competitors and congratulated them on their success.

“Hezzah!” Phaistos shouted in celebration of his fellow patrons.

While Phaistos is out of a medieval archery tournament, Nick Sumandra can blend in with any 21st century crowd.

During the week, 40-year-old Sumandra is a sign language interpreter at Pierce College, aiding deaf or hearing-impaired students in accomplishing their educational goals.

But, during his free time and weekends, he assumes his 17th century persona, Phaistos.

“Nikolaos Phaistos is a mercenary archer from the Greek island of Crete,” Sumandra said of his alternate persona. “He was hired by the Medici family to find their lost daughter, Cecilia.”

He proceeded to tell the story of finding Cecilia in Persia, but instead of returning her to her family, he joined her clan and her quest to make right in the world.

“That’s the fun part,” Sumandra said. “You can make your own history in a true historical context even though it’s not real history.” the Medici family to find their lost daughter, for Creative Anachronism, a nonprofit

Sumandra is a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to research and re-creation of medieval and renaissance culture, according to organization officials.

Despite the need to fill 48 vacant positions, Pierce College may only hire five new professors according to senators at the Academic Senate meeting on Monday, Dec. 2.

“The SCA holds archery tournaments, fencing competitions, heavy armor battles, which all lead to larger battles between kingdoms around the world in our international gatherings,” Sumandra said.

As a teen, Sumandra’s uncle taught him to shoot bows and arrows in his backyard.

“I loved archery but knew that nothing would come of it in life,” he said.

Sumandra put archery aside and, in his early 20s, began taking American Sign Language classes, which led to his current career as an interpreter at Pierce.

“The SCA holds archery tournaments and medieval recreation events

Then, a friend of Sumandra’s told him about the SCA, and that there were archery tournaments and medieval recreation events every weekend.

[See ARCHER , pg. 8]