TEMPLE, Texas — A group of students in the deaf education program at Temple ISD’s Bonham Middle School recently made history by participating in the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)/National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID)’s Southeast Regional Math Competition. This is the first time Bonham’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing Math Team has competed in that event.
Bonham’s four-person team is made up of seventh-graders Chloe Jackson and Mkayla Jones and sixth-graders Brian Blair and Skylar Sharp. The group competed individually and in small groups against middle school students from multiple states. Students were required to face off in what the organization describes as a fast-paced competition answering a variety of challenging math questions. Those questions covered math concepts from sixth, seventh, and eighth grade curriculum, adding another level of difficulty for the young team from Bonham.
“I know a little bit of seventh and eighth grade math, but this was something different,” Blair said. “I learned to be more confident in myself and I really enjoyed all of the math stuff we did. It was really fun.”
“It was good, actually it was amazing,” Sharp said. “I learned that I can make people happy. My favorite part was being with my friends and getting the award.”
Bonham’s team would go on to finish in sixth place in the team competition during the event. Blair added an eighth-place finish in the Top Tiger Championship, a bracket-style individual tournament. Sharp won the Ben Hall Sportsmanship Award, recognizing his interaction with others, including peers, coaches, and competition staff. The students also enjoyed the experience of breaking ground by being the first Bonham team to compete.
“It is pretty cool to be the first to do this and I know a little bit of sign so I could communicate with some of the other kids in my group,” Jackson said. “It was also cool to make new friends and be around so many other kids who were deaf because we don’t always get to experience that.”
That latter experience Jackson mentioned was another one of the major benefits to participating in the competition according to team coaches and Temple ISD teachers of the deaf, Kathryn Donahue and Katie Swann. Texas School for the Deaf in Austin hosted the event, and everything was primarily in sign language with voice interpreters available, creating learning opportunities on both a social and academic level.
“Exposure at a deaf school is very different from a public school, so having all of these students put in a situation where it was heavy on signing was so important for socialization,” Swann said. “Academically, it was just like our general education students going somewhere and competing. It kind of levels the playing field for these students because the accessibility is there, but the high expectations are also still there.”
“I am so grateful that we were able to provide this opportunity of going to an event that was specifically designed for them, but at a level that was equivalent to their peers. It was so cool to see their reaction to that experience,” added Donahue.
The coaches also point to the student’s and team’s success as another reward and as a recognition for all of the hard work done through the district’s Regional Day School for the Deaf program.
“This shows their tenacity and how hard they work every day,” Swann said. “It is the culmination of things they have been working on since elementary school. To be able to receive that appropriate education and to take all of that and apply it in this situation, it was super cool to see the fruit of the labor and for them to have that opportunity that they wouldn’t normally have.”
The students and coaches are already looking ahead to next year’s competition, which will be held in Georgia. They are all looking forward to building on the experience they gained in their first trip to the competition.
“It was so exciting to see that all of the kids in my small group signed, that was cool,” Jones said. “I really want to go again next year and do the competition again. I want to remember all of the work that we did to get ready for this year and carry it over.”
“Now we know better how to prepare,” Donahue said. “We know that we need to really be working hard in our general education math classes so that we know the content and can review it and have team practices ahead of time.”
The Southeast Region for the competition includes schools in the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.