Harding staffmember Becky Leavell interprets the morning 's chapel service for Jamie McCracken. This addition to chapel gave those who knew sign language an opportunity to minister. Photo by Aaron Gillihan. Matt Wilkinson - Tulsa, Okla. Brad Williams - Marked Tree, Ark. Diana Williams - Sedalia, Ky. Janalyn Williams - Beebe, Ark. Kristy Williams - DeKalb, Texas Patricia Williams - Lynwood, Calif. Sean Williams - Searcy, Ark. Lanae Wilson - Ramona, Calif. Matt Wilson - Batesville, Miss. Mike Wilson - Olathe, Kan. Lynne Wilterdink - Aurora, Colo. Catherine Wiltse - San Antonio, Texas In the hands: Helping the deafpopulation become part of the hearing society Many returning students noticed a change in the chapel services during the fall semester. At the front left, someone was interpreting the service into sign language. The reason for this change was that there was a deaf student attending Harding after a few years without such students. With the help of a hired interpreter, freshman Jamie McCracken was attending regular classes and participating in campus life. The chapel service gave students from the Dactylology Club an opportunity to practice sign language. "It gave them the opportunity to interact and make friends with a person who really was dependent on sign language," Linda Thompson, director ofStudent Support Services, said. Thompson organized sign language during chapel and interpreted two days a week herself. Tony Slate, a senior art major, was initially motivated to learn sign language by an experience he had on a campaign to Scotland in 1994. "I met a deaf couple there, and Iwas so frustrated because I couldn't communicate with them," Slate said. As a result, he learned the alphabet in sign language that summer, and upon returning to Harding, he joined the Dactylology Club. Another interpreter, Laura Shero, an instructor in the English Department, came from a different background. She started learning sign language at the early age of 7 when she began taking a class with her father. "I just watched the interpreter at church, and it was really easy for me to pick it up because Iwas so young," Shero said. By the age of 12, she was interpreting for others. Learning the many signs is only one of the difficulties of interpreting, according to Thompson. "It's not the words that you have to get across but the meaning the speaker is trying to convey," she said. "That's especially difficult when aword has several meanings." Slate agreed, "You have to be able to think quickly. Often I feel like a thesaurus." Interpreting in chapel was beneficial both to McCracken and to the students interpreting. This was evident especially when singing songs. "When you do the signs, you really pay attention to the words and it builds you up a lot more," Slate said. - Diana King Toni Winter - Wolcott, N.Y. Jessie Witt - Flagler, Colo. Marcella Witt - Aurora, Neb. Brad Wood - Searcy, Ark. Tony Woodruff - Searcy, Ark. Delana Woods - Granbury, Texas Kirk Workman - Ballinger, Texas Sandi Wright - Searcy, Ark. Michelle Yarbrough - Heber Springs, Ark. Wendy Yeakle - Santee, Calif. Jill Yotty - Pekin, III. Kimberly Young- Kennewick, Wash.
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