Mrs. Ortiz. is a Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) Paraprofessional who graduated from Hinsdale South in 2011. She is currently one of the sponsors of American Sign Language (ASL) club and has been working at Hinsdale South for four years. As a DHH Paraprofessional, she works with students in class.

Mrs. Ortiz was very involved during her years at Hinsdale South; as a part of Deaf Drama, ASL club, Junior Illinois Association of the Deaf (IAD), Deaf Academic Bowl and Snowball, she participated in a variety of activities. In Deaf Drama, she played a lot of lead roles, including in Hansel and Gretel, West Side Story, and Junie B. Jones. She enjoyed many activities in ASL Club as well, like going on field trips, teaching ASL, teaching types of dances through sign, and even singing the National Anthem for events. As a student, she enjoyed the wide variety of food options in the cafeteria. She also reports that the school was more ‘old fashioned’ when she was in high school. 

Though she did not initially picture herself becoming a paraprofessional as her career, she wanted to gain experience as one, as she was interested in early childhood intervention. After years of working here, she found she does really enjoy working with high school students. 

“It’s nice to see that I can be successful and be a role model for other students to understand that they can be successful as well,” said Mrs. Ortiz.

According to Mrs. Ortiz, Hinsdale South’s DHH program has changed quite a bit from when she was a student here. As a student, the program was more focused on using ASL to communicate rather than newer communication technology like hearing aids and cochlear implants. Now, there’s more of a balance between using ASL and the technology mentioned beforehand. 

She likes the addition of the Stinger Station as well. One thing that Mrs. Ortiz enjoys at Hinsdale South is the diversity and seeing deaf students communicating with others. Her favorite memory from her years here is being involved in West Side Story, as she had to take one of the roles that is generally considered a ‘male’ character. While it was tough to act as a man, the show went well.

When asked if she would recommend working at Hinsdale South, Mrs. Ortiz said, “Yeah, I would, for sure.”