Renca Dunn’s recap of YLC 50th anniversary reunion

RENCA DUNN:

Hi, I’m here at Beach Lake, Pennsylvania for the YLC’s 50th reunion. Are you ready and curious about what happened during this weekend?

Come on!

LINDA HATRAK CUNDY:

How many people came to the 50th reunion? How many? It’s actually about 200!

DT BRUNO:

See that text? I won’t be presenting about it, instead you’ll discuss about it with your group at your tables.

FEMALE GROUP DISCUSSION MEMBER:

To encourage diversity.

FANNY YEH:

I was born In Taiwan then I moved to Brazil then to America then Hawaii then Indonesia and now, I’m living in Paris, France. How did I learn about YLC? It was through Gallaudet University where I attended, and it was brought up with my good friends, Dr. Frank Turk and Gary Olsen.

We share a strong bond. Through our conversations, they mentioned they wanted to create YLC and asked me to attend in 1969 and 1970. During that time, I was sort of a camper and a staff. Also, I helped make a sign for Swan Lake.

LINSAY DARNALL, JR:

Why do I keep coming back here? I am addicted to two things. First, it’s seeing you all grow and two…there’s the sense growth within myself.

JIMEL WRIGHT:

I’m the YLC camp director. This is now my second year. I know there’s one thing that I love during my time here, what I hold dear, is seeing the youth grow plus seeing my peers being involved. That motivation and that growth inspires me to continue being involved with YLC. These are some of my fond memories.

DR. FRANK TURK:

With the NAD, and what the NAD is, that acts as a coordinator of all affiliated organizations.

MARIANNE DOREMUS:

I’m Frank Turk’s daughter. A proud daughter of Frank Turk and really, I was asked to say a few words, but there’s so much to say, but I’m very proud of my father especially today. He’s almost 90 and he’s published a book.

FEMALE FAN:

I love you!

DR. FRANK TURK:

Love you too!

Dr. FRANK TURK’S PARTNER:

That’s you? Oh, wow!

FEMALE FAN:

That’s beautiful! I love you two!

FRANK W. TURK:

50 years ago, I had no idea what things would look like 50 years later. Well, it’s now 50 years later and looking back, wow, the deaf world has dramatically changed and continues to change.

MARIANNE DOREMUS:

Yes!

FRANK W. TURK:

And it’s continued to change.

RENCA:

I’m really excited. The three YLC founders: Gary Olsen, Dr. Frank Turk and Don Padden, who is not here, but the other two are so I’m going to interview them!

Let’s go!

RENCA:

Would you mind explaining a little bit about how this all started? What was the inspiration that made you decide to do all this?

DR. FRANK TURK:

We were driving to the School for the Deaf in Missouri…in Fulton, Missouri. While we were driving, we talked a lot about the needs and the interests unique to the deaf youth. We spent a long time on the wheels, but then this question came up….I was the national director of the Junior NAD at the time.

I told him I think we need…a leadership camp. Maybe sometimes during the summer for 4 weeks at least. Maybe 2 or 3 sessions that were 4 weeks each maybe. I don’t know…we were driving after the very successful first national conference for Junior NAD at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. At the time, Gallaudet was a college, but anyways, on our drive, we realized that just a week wasn’t enough time for kids to…learn about their true potential in school and their potential careers. Also, their individual potentials and as a community where they live in or lead. It’s not enough time so we thought it might be better during the summer.

GARY OLSEN:

I was really impressed with his work at Gallaudet with his youth programs for boys and girls. It gave me goosebumps. We needed something to be done with after the work is finished. Someone needed to follow up, keep him involved and motivated. So on our drive, we saw this big sign for a camp. This brought up the idea of running a camp. One thing led to another. And we decided that he would focus on getting the appropriate approvals to set up a camp. I developed the program because at the time, I was working in Indianapolis at the School for the Deaf. We had good and talented people who could help get us launched. That’s what we did.

RENCA:

So wonderful, wow, and thank you for sharing that! I’m wondering, now from Day 1, I’m sure you’ve never envisioned seeing all this come to this point. So, I’m curious about how you two feel about the 50th reunion and seeing many different generations…I’m curious about what your emotions are like now for this event?

GARY OLSEN:

I feel very, very grateful. Very, very excited. Inspired. I get goosebumps, really, seeing these boys and girls over these 50 years, who were students that we worked with and trained, succeed and become wonderful employees at different Schools for the Deaf, different businesses and different colleges. They did their job so well that it makes me really proud. These kids deserved that kind of success for themselves. I’m inspired by that.

DR. FRANK TURK:

Many of them were, what do I call them, role models. Many of them…they used to be what the current youth were. The adults once saw things the way the youth were seeing them. The adults felt the way the youth were feeling. The kids knew that they were soon about to enter adulthood and we wanted them to get involved. The kids would get to know them. They could watch them make mistakes and learn from them. They learned a way to avoid repeating their mistakes. Both of our goals were to really encourage them to surpass our accomplishments and to pass what they’ve learned onto our future leaders.

SACHIKO FLORES:

Jump off the bridge? I wasn’t sure because I was afraid of heights, but I ultimately decided to do it.

RENCA:

Hey, I’m here with these two former YLC campers. You know the cool thing is she was one of its very first campers in 1969 and he’s a part of the most recent batch of campers in 2018. I asked them how they feel about this reunion. Could you tell us about how you’ve felt throughout this weekend?

KAY HATRAK VINCENT:

It’s been so wonderful. It’s a flash flood of many memories.

TERRELL:

It’s truly a big honor to meet someone like her, a wonderful woman. Truly, so I’ve met many others and it’s cool how they all have their own networks. It’s a good feeling and it feels like home here.

RENCA:

Thank you!

KAY HATRAK VINCENT:

Yes, it’s nice to be back with old friends and finding out where we’ve been.

RENCA:

Right, right. That’s the idea with the reunion.

TERRELL:

And new friends for me.

RENCA:

I agree! Plenty of new friends!

KAY HATRAK VINCENT:

Yes.

MELISSA DRAGANAC-HAWK:

Involved. I graduated at the Lexington School and we were involved.

JIMEL WRIGHT:

My encouragement and word of advice for you, the youth, my peers, adults and anyone who wants to get involved and do something with their lives, I encourage you to participate in summer camps in different capacities and have different learning experiences to help you make an impact on your deaf community. Make a difference, make changes and help everyone else grow together.

CROWD:

Stay…

With…

The Light!