Record Attendance For 10th Annual Silent Weekend

The 10th annual Silent Weekend, hosted  by Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, was almost a year in the making (the planning committee met for the first time in March 2019), and it drew rave reviews from the record 144 people who attended.

Emily Thelen, a junior in the Lansing Community College Sign Language Interpreter program (ITP), was one of the many students on hand for the weekend of activities, and her reaction to the event represented that of many of the attendees.

“This was my first year at Silent Weekend, and I loved it,” she said. “I think it is such a beneficial event because different Deaf presenters come, and it is a good way for students and working interpreters to learn directly from people who have more experience with the language and culture and with aspects of ASL such as facial expressions and storytelling. I enjoyed being voices off all weekend because it really forced me to develop my conversational ASL and figure out what I was actually trying to say and make it clear to the people I talked to. I would really recommend that everyone go next year. It is an awesome time!”

Such comments brought a smile to the face of Jennifer Kolhoff, the Workshop Coordinator for D&HHS, a position she has held since 2016.

“I must give credit to the amazing job the planning committee did,” she said. “Without their help, there is no way we could have had such a huge success.”

That committee of 16 people included three Deaf individuals, three student representatives, four D&HHS staff members, three recent ITP graduates and three interpreters with a standard level II certification or higher.

D&HHS executive director Deb Atwood said that Kolhoff’s role at the organization provides important resources for what working interpreters want and need to maintain their certifications in the state of Michigan and for their continued learning in the field.

“She loves having the opportunity to work closely with people to find out what they want and need to improve their profession and their community,” Atwood added, “and Silent Weekend is a big part of that work.”

Beth Magennis is one of those people who benefits from D&HHS’s Silent Weekend.

She has been interpreting for 24 years and has been going to Silent Weekend off and on since 2013. She described the annual event as “a wonderful opportunity to immerse yourself in ASL that challenges you to use this language with your every waking moment, not just in the classroom.”

She added: “I always learn something during Silent Weekend. The high quality presenters that come teach me not only new vocabulary, but also techniques that I can use in my work as an interpreter. I also meet lots of new people, mostly students but also other interpreters from around Michigan. SilentWeekend is more than just earning your CEUs.”

Kolhoff agreed.

“A change for 2020 that we’ve had positive feedback about was that workshops were not segregated for interpreters and students,” she said. “We felt that opening them to all was a much more inclusive way to offer the presentations. One of the reasons for this change was because of the inclusion of ITP student representatives on the planning committee. Starting for the 2019 event, student representatives from all of the programs in Michigan and Northern Indiana were invited to participate in the planning process.”

Another change for 2020 was that the event met its goal to hire Deaf or Hard of Hearing individuals as the workshop presenters. For the 2020 event, all of the presenters were Deaf or Hard of Hearing, and the official 10-year anniversary logo was designed by West Michigan Deafblind artist Amy Docter.

Kolhoff also was grateful that the 2020 event had a record number of sponsors which was critical to allowing the event to offer a number of “extras” this year such as free grab-and-go snacks and drinks, door prizes and more.