My name is Logan Sanders, and I am an American Sign Language (ASL)/English Interpreting major with a minor in American Sign Language. It may sound like overkill I know, but I love it. As a matter of fact, Kent State wasn’t my original college. I transferred here after I fell in love with the idea of becoming an ASL interpreter.
A professor at my college prior to Kent was deaf and brought in one of his friends, who was an interpreter, to class one day to talk with us. After that, I told him I wanted to be an interpreter and he recommended that I come to Kent State, so I transferred the summer after. It was the best decision I could have ever made.
While I am not an honors student, I have the opportunity to work on the Senior Honors Thesis. I am researching minor leaders in deaf history and why we don’t learn about them. I am very excited as a part of my research is interviewing people in the deaf community to get their thoughts and opinions. I get to reach out and make connections with those that I possibly will be working with later on in my program and even after graduation. I also have clinical hours every semester where I get the opportunity to go out to deaf events, meet people in the community and I even get to practice using my interpreting skills outside of class.
My favorite experiences have been going to events where I meet people in the deaf-blind community. I’ve even gotten a Protactile Language Theory certificate which is a newer way that those who are deaf-blind communicate.
I have met so many people that I never would have before and have made some amazing connections.
When I was younger, I never wanted much to do with other people but that has changed. Having the opportunity to meet people and communicate in their language is the most rewarding part of what I’ve been doing. I get to explore more than I ever thought I would be able to. Honestly, I feel I have grown so much in my short time here.
I’ve learned so much professionally, but what I feel is more important is how much I have grown personally. I am finally finding out who I am and who I want to be. I am happier than I have been in a long time and truly enjoy life as I should have been all this time.
I have built quite a community here on the KSU campus in such a short amount of time.
My favorite thing so far is ASL game night. I have made some great friends there and it is the highlight of my week. Anyone can come whether you have been using ASL for years or if you just learned about it today. We play so many different games, but no speaking allowed! If you want to communicate you have to sign, write, gesture, or whatever you need to get your point across. I love the challenge when learning a new game from the professors who run it or trying to figure out how to explain a game to students who are at a lower ASL level than me.
I am also in ASL club where we go over signs themed to the month, have different events that are voice off, and just hang out and meet people!
Another group I am in is the National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH). It is an honorary society dedicated to recognizing leaders in collegiate residence halls. We value service in our community (on and off campus) and recognition. We work with other groups on campus, do random acts of kindness, do volunteer work for the community, even meet and work with other colleges across the country that have an NRHH.
After graduation there are two things I really want to do. One is to work with the deaf-blind community. I would love to be able to interpret for them and just get to know them more. After my first time at an event based on that group, I have felt a connection ever since. I also wish to be a performance interpreter. I will forever and always be a theatre kid and want to be able to continue that love even if it is not me center stage. I want to interpret live concerts, comedy shows, musicals – anything that you can see on a stage, I want to interpret.
I have to say to any high school senior who is even remotely thinking of attending Kent State University, give it a try. Come see the campus and see if you get that same excitement I did after being in college for a few years. Even if you don’t end your college career here (though I hope you do), I would love to see you on this campus. It’s not perfect, though no college is, but I definitely wish I would have started my journey here right after high school.