Self service

Josh Self is forever thankful to the teachers at Seymour Community Schools, including Cortland Elementary School.

Not only did they provide a good education until he became a student at Indiana School for the Deaf in Indianapolis three years ago, but they pulled through to collect money for Self to spend a week touring Africa.

That week, however, will be preceded by a trip to Cape Town, South Africa, June 22-27, that he earned through a project at ISD.

"I'm really excited to think of somebody from little Cortland winning such a great thing," CES school librarian Judy Wichman said.

Self returned to Cortland May 13 to talk to fourth- and fifth-graders about the project in which he was involved.

"Students voted for two students who worked the hardest on the project," Self said of how he was chosen.

The project was part of the Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment program, which is a worldwide school-based science program focusing on collecting data that will help scientists study the Earth's environment. It began on Earth Day in 1995, and includes more than 100 countries, 20,000 schools and 40,000 trained teachers. ISD has logged 16,500 environmental measurements this year.

"We're actually in the lead of doing that," Self said of the measurements.

The project began with teachers at ISD assigning a research project for the students in an earth science class. Self's teacher, Teresa Huckleberry, paired him up with Tyler Crace to research budbursts.

By using sign language via videoconferencing, students at ISD and the Model Secondary School for the Deaf in Washington, D.C. were able to share and compare each other's research since the two schools are at similar latitudes.

Self said budbursts occur when tree buds are open and the leaves can be seen. The goal of the project was to determine which trees budded first. The hypothesis was that with more precipitation, warmer temperatures and its vicinity to the Atlantic Ocean, buds at MSSD would open before buds at ISD.

But Self and Crace learned the buds opened at ISD first, with temperature being the controlling factor.

"Scientists are collecting the data from us so they know what's impacted when budburst happens," Self said.

Even though the main project is over, Self said, budburst research will need to continue for several years.

"I never thought of it before," Self said of researching budbursts. "After doing it, it really became interesting. I got zoned into it, and it just clicked for me. Science and math were always my best subjects."

ISD is one of five high schools from the United States that qualified to go to the GLOBE Learning Expedition and 12th Annual Conference. Thirty-one countries will be presenting projects in South Africa.

"It's a great accomplishment," Self said. "We were chosen as the only deaf school to be involved."

Self said as the trip draws closer, he's getting more excited.

"At first when we were told we were going, I was like, ‘cool,'" Self said. "I didn't really know how to take it. Now that we're getting close to it, I'm like, ‘oh boy, it's getting close.'"

Self has been a student at ISD for three years. He's finishing his final year there, but he wants to continue his studies.

Self has already had a year at Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis to get certification as a welder. Next fall, he will begin his final year for that.

During his first year at ISD, an anonymous benefactor sent money to ISD and Self was able to go to Florida to earn scuba diving certification. Since he has that certification, he wants to combine scuba diving and welding to become an underwater welder.

"I was already certified in scuba diving and I knew I was going to be certified in welding, so I thought, ‘why not?'" Self said. "I just need a few years of experience in both fields, so I thought I would combine them."

Once he's done at Arsenal, Self said, "I want to go to some small college so I can continue to set up my career."

Although he is looking to the future, Self still looks at what he accomplished in Seymour. He helped start the Hearing Education Access Resource Club at Seymour High School.

"I was wanting to get hard of hearing and deaf students noticed," Self said. "I was trying to show that if you give us a chance, we can actually show we can do (what everyone else does). You just give us the chance, and we will prove it."

Even when Self was not at Seymour, HEAR Club adviser Jay Cherry said Self was still helping with fundraisers to provide hearing aids to those who needed them. Cherry has worked with Self since he was a fifth-grader at CES, and they have maintained contact through Self's time at ISD.

Self has overcome many challenges, including having 50 percent hearing loss in both ears and not knowing any sign language before attending ISD.

"I've always considered myself a student on the bridge," Self said. "I still go back and forth between worlds, the deaf world and the hearing world."

But he's learned to make the best of it.

"Any of you guys can make a great accomplishment," Self told the Cortland students. "Just set your goals high."