Deaf Studies Graduates May 2007
On 18th May, Tania Reti (Wellington), Darryl Alexander (Wellington) and Rachel Summers (Nelson) graduated with a 'Certificate in Deaf Studies: Teaching NZSL' from Victoria University of Wellington. These graduates are already teaching NZSL in Wellington and Nelson region.
Darryl Alexander was asked to give a speech on behalf of all graduates at Victoria University at the ceremony. This is a special honour because only one student per graduation ceremony is asked to give a speech. It is also the first time for a Deaf person to be a graduate speaker at Victoria University's graduation ceremony. In Darryl's speech, he acknowledged the support of staff and families; the support from Victoria University on sign language research work and recognising NZSL as a 3rd official language.
It was a moment to remember when the Chancellor of the University signed congratulations to the 3 graduates in NZSL on stage.
There are three other graduates worth mentioning. Georgina Major graduated from the same ceremony with a MA in Linguistics. She is a NZSL Interpreter, Secretary of Sign Language Interpreter Association of NZ (SLIANZ) and a sign language researcher at Deaf Studies Research Unit at Victoria. Geri graduated with a BA in English and is currently studying to become a NZSL Interpreter at AUT University. Jared Flitcroft, a Deaf person also graduated with a BA in Film Studies. Congratulations are in order for all graduates from NZSLTA.
From left: Georgina Major, Jared Flitcroft, Tania Reti, David McKee, Rachel Summers, Rachel McKee, Darryl Alexander
