Ms. Niestrom is a DHH teacher who graduated from South in 2015 and the sponsor of Habitat for Humanity. She took ASL in her high school years and has continued to use her ASL skills with the other DHH students as well as teaching ASL.

Ms Niestrom was heavily involved throughout her years in high school and enjoyed the fact she was in multiple ‘groups’ in high school. She feels the same way now as a teacher with her colleagues. Niestrom always wanted to be a teacher because of the experiences she had with teachers when she was in high school. Though she did not expect to teach at Hinsdale South specifically; a position opened up she ended up taking.

Back when Niestrom was in high school, the DHH program was still up and running, though it is on a bigger scale now. According to Niestrom, with the expansion of more ASL classes as well as DHH as a whole in Hinsdale South, there has been more interaction between hearing and deaf students than ever before. There are also more deaf staff members than there used to be.

Ms Niestrom states “there is pride in people who graduated from here [South] and they come back here” in regards to individuals that were in the deaf and hard of hearing program.

Many of the teachers now in the DHH department also went here during high school. So many have come back because of our program at South, but also many people, including Niestorm, enjoy the community here. South pride and culture is something Niestrom says has never changed.

She also believes people have many opportunities to connect with people from different cultures, communities, and students from different backgrounds; like in the Black Student Union or in counseling and support groups. These opportunities are more readily available to south students compared to when she was in high school. One aspect she ‘dislikes’ about South is the prominent use of phones in school, as it takes away opportunities for students to socialize. She also dislikes that students could be more involved at school and confident, as she enjoyed many of the activities and social events that happened when she was in high school.

When asked if she would recommend teaching at South, she responded “Yes. Absolutely. Definitely.”