Malinda Eccarius farewell

Kelcey Buck Author

07/14/2016 Added

62 Plays

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Malinda Eccarius, associate professor of practice in the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders, reflects on her 21 years at UNL ahead of her retirement celebration in July 2016.

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[00:00:08.298]Well, I taught at a camp for
[00:00:12.546]what we would call now
[00:00:13.734]a camp for children with disabilities.
[00:00:15.419]It was called Texas Lions Camp for Crippled Children
[00:00:19.068]back in 1970, 71, 72.
[00:00:28.267]I needed a job in the summer
[00:00:34.235]and I was a drama major,
[00:00:36.586]and there weren't a lot of summer jobs
[00:00:37.857]for drama majors.
[00:00:40.559]So while I was an undergrad,
[00:00:43.454]I worked as an arts and crafts counselor
[00:00:46.068]at this summer camp,
[00:00:48.024]and 40 percent of the kids were deaf.
[00:00:51.777]And I loved the deaf kids.
[00:00:54.424]And I noticed that some of the kids
[00:00:57.734]who could use sign language
[00:00:59.523]communicated great, both with each other
[00:01:02.240]and just taught everybody else sign language.
[00:01:04.968]And the kids who were being taught just to talk,
[00:01:07.664]but couldn't hear,
[00:01:09.964]weren't learning anything.
[00:01:11.156]And they were sad.
[00:01:12.753]And they were lonely and isolated
[00:01:15.861]unless they were swimming
[00:01:17.190]or pushing somebody's wheelchair,
[00:01:19.473]but they didn't participate
[00:01:21.748]in a lot of the interactions.
[00:01:23.827]And I thought, this isn't right.
[00:01:27.671]So I did an honors thesis as my undergrad
[00:01:30.979]in whether or not teachers of the deaf
[00:01:33.475]had any drama training,
[00:01:34.922]because I thought maybe that could help their communication.
[00:01:38.350]And I won an award for it.
[00:01:39.995]I thought, hey, maybe I'm in the wrong field!
[00:01:42.089](Laughs) My mother had been telling me for years
[00:01:44.749]I should be a teacher, and I was resisting it
[00:01:46.674]with everything I had.
[00:01:48.474]No, no, I'm not going to be a teacher!
[00:01:51.888]That's what everybody in my family is!
[00:01:54.686]And, (laughs), here I am 45 years later.
[00:02:03.458]Putting, or helping to put,
[00:02:07.272]120 new teachers of the deaf
[00:02:09.268]out into the world.
[00:02:12.864]That's probably the most rewarding.
[00:02:14.620]The relationships with the students,
[00:02:19.200]and the collaborations with the faculty
[00:02:22.580]that resulted in putting all of those teachers out -
[00:02:27.831]UNL has now had such an influence on deaf education
[00:02:33.308]and has built a reputation based on
[00:02:36.907]all of those teachers.
[00:02:39.846]It's been really exciting to be part of that,
[00:02:42.072]very satisfying.
[00:02:47.186]Learn everything you can from
[00:02:48.359]experienced faculty. (Laughs)
[00:02:51.456]I could not have survived here,
[00:02:55.531]especially in 1997, when I kind of got
[00:02:58.011]thrown in the deep end of the pool,
[00:03:01.183]without every single person
[00:03:04.422]in this building.
[00:03:06.138]I must have asked for help
[00:03:08.630]from every single person
[00:03:10.318]in this building,
[00:03:11.799]and I wrote a thank you note
[00:03:15.267]to every single faculty member
[00:03:17.659]in this building when I went back to Boys Town
[00:03:21.176]at the end of that academic year
[00:03:23.525]and started my half-and-half work
[00:03:28.127]to help Dr. Ramsey and to work on my doctorate,
[00:03:34.721]but I wrote a letter to
[00:03:35.818]every single person,
[00:03:38.006]or at least a little note,
[00:03:40.487]thanking them because
[00:03:42.824]you don't make it
[00:03:43.935]if you don't tap the wisdom and experience
[00:03:48.203]of everyone else
[00:03:49.048]and then
[00:03:50.142]put it together in a new way
[00:03:52.955]and think outside the box
[00:03:56.311]until you've created your own box.
[00:04:02.903]Well I'll already be in Milwaukee,
[00:04:06.520]and it'll be New Year's Day
[00:04:13.193]of 2017,
[00:04:17.656]so I'll probably
[00:04:20.356]go over and visit my grandchildren.
[00:04:27.034](Sigh)
[00:04:32.778]I don't know.
[00:04:38.581]It's really hard to think about going
[00:04:44.251]and being remembered.
[00:04:47.935]I hope they remember I did my job.

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Malinda Eccarius farewell

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