Amy Signs: A Mother, Her Daughter, and their Stories

46. Graduation and College Bound

281 46 Graduation and College Bound Rebecca and Amy After starting school at sixteen months, seventeen years later Amy is finally receiving recognition for all her hard work. Not only is she valedictorian of her class, but she also receives several special awards and scholarships. During the course of the ceremonies , as each graduate’s name is called, their family and friends are asked to stand. Amy has the largest group in attendance. My three sisters and their families, Jack and Linda with her two children, John, Amy’s godmother, Mrs. Beatty, and my father are present. I’m sad my mother isn’t here; she’d be so proud of her namesake. Mother died two years ago after several grueling years of fighting bone cancer. This fall Amy will attend Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., and John will return to the University of Nebraska in Lincoln . Student loans for John, and scholarships, assistance from the Buffett Foundation, and my purse make it possible for her to attend Gallaudet. As I prepare to endure the expense of having two children in college, my friend Pat brings me a small gift. I open the package and discover a mug filled with new pencils. On the mug is written, “Pencils 5 Cents.” I chuckle as I pour her a glass of iced tea and we prepare to play cribbage. Amy Signs Main Pgs 1-320.indd 281 6/27/2012 10:37:49 AM 282 Amy Signs “Look at this.” I show her a small silver dish with a cork liner. “What is it?” Pat shuffles the cards. “My sister Helen sent it to me. It’s a fancy dish for a bottle of wine, but Helen said with two kids in college next year, I might want to use it as an offering plate.” “Looks like one, that’s for sure.” Pat searches her purse, retrieves a dime and places it in the silver plate. “Thanks. I need all the help I can get.” ) All the activities I participated in at NSD added to my educational experience. At NSD I learned about Gallaudet University, the only deaf liberal arts university in the world. I never really knew about Gallaudet until I was a seventh grader. One of my seven subjects was study hall. So, I spent fifty minutes daily at the library. Sometimes I studied and did my homework and other times I just explored the bookshelves. One shelf was filled with Gallaudet College Tower Clock books from the 1960s and 1970s.The Tower Clock is Gallaudet’s college yearbook. I was curious, which led me to read the books.There were some funny pictures in the books. I wondered why the students did these things and my classmates and I discussed the photos and laughed about them. Amy’s NSD high school graduation. May 1987. Jack, Amy, John, and Rebecca Willman. Amy Signs Main Pgs 1-320.indd 282 6/27/2012 10:37:49 AM Graduation and College Bound 283 One day I discovered some of my NSD teachers and staff were in the Tower Clock yearbook. I asked Bruce Becker, the houseparent for the high school boys, about the pictures. He told me, “Go to Gallaudet when you graduate and find out for yourself.” Other graduates from Gallaudet at NSD told me, “Go to Gallaudet . You will love it for sure.” Ironically, graduates from Gallaudet told me to look up Phi Kappa Zeta and encouraged me to join that sorority. (Many years later I did, and joined it!) As I read and looked through the pictures and stories from the yearbook, I thought to myself, why did the students dress up like that? There were photos of sororities and fraternities doing their probation with uniforms. Other photos were of rat funerals and naked streaking by students.The Tower Clock books made me really very, very curious. Teachers and staff at NSD encouraged me to attend there. At that time, Gallaudet was the only Deaf liberal arts college in the world. I thought it was awesome. Later in high school, I learned there were other Deaf colleges combined with hearing colleges, but I continued to tell myself, I will apply to only one college: Gallaudet. To be accepted, you must be fluent in sign, which is no problem for me, and capable of doing college-level courses. Many applicants Amy and Marge Beatty, her godmother and...