By Blake Stevens

St. Joseph’s School for the Deaf in the Bronx is an educational institution that graciously offers all it has to poverty-stricken children who are hearing and mentally impaired. When I got the chance to volunteer at the school and spend time with the current students in attendance, I experienced something truly amazing.

When I first walked into St. Joseph’s on a windy dreary morning, I got the feeling that I was on the set of a horror film. It was an old building – over a hundred years old – with dim lighting and black and white photos on the wall. I was afraid that the children attending the school would be disengaged, dull or even scary. The idea of “needy” kids frightened me. I had never been in this kind of situation before. The fear, however, immediately disappeared after my first few encounters with the children.

The children at St. Joseph’s School for the Deaf were not dull, scary or needy but rather bright, attentive and very intellectual. They were well aware of their surroundings and didn’t need much help with anything. I was really pleasantly surprised especially when I saw how engaged they were during our trip to a pumpkin patch. The children knew the size, shape and color of the pumpkins they wanted, and when it came to decorating the pumpkins later on, the volunteers sat back and enjoyed the nice fall breeze while watching the children create masterpieces.

My expectations of bonding with deaf children were, shamefully, extremely low. I thought that working with them would be a difficult experience. This, however, was not the case; by using simple hand gestures and body movements (not sign language), we were able to connect. David, a 5-year-old child, could not hear but showed great determination to communicate with us through his use of facial expressions. Spending time with David and other hearing-impaired children helped me realize that speaking was not a necessity for communication at all.

In all, St. Joseph’s School for the Deaf and its students, unexpectedly, educated me in ways that sitting in a classroom simply could not. It made me more considerate of others and strengthened my moral character. This trip will remain in my mind forever; I will repeatedly use what I learned there for the rest of my life.

Stevens is a senior at Holy Cross H.S., Flushing.