D/HH figure skating program that Miss Ashley Mikelsen was able to obtain the Prudential “Building Bridges” grant for.
This January, the Columbine Figure Skating Club in Colorado was awarded the Prudential “Building Bridges” grant that enabled CFSC to introduce the sport of figure skating to the deaf and hard of hearing community. Ashley Mikelsen, one of Columbine Figure Skating Club’s coaches, who is deaf, wanted to introduce D/HH children to the sport of figure skating who have hearing loss like her. When Ashley and CFSC heard they were awarded the “Building Bridges” grant for $15,000.00, they reached out to the Ear Community Organization where the two organizations collaborated together to help bring together over 20 children, ranging from age 5 to 17, providing them with 2.5 months of donated figure skating lessons. These future figure skaters were given the opportunity to learn basic skills on up to intermediate level skating skills at the Apex Recreation Center ice arena in Arvada, CO. ASL interpreters were also provided while on the ice for these skaters from the Rocky Mountain School for the Deaf and Adams 12 School District. Thank you to Maribeth Lavender, Laura Odom, and Kyla Paterson for providing ASL for these children. Lessons were provided during the months of February through May with students participating in the spring ice skating show that took place on May 5th, 2018. This year’s spring figure skating show was called
Coach Ashley Mikelsen with student, Ally Tumblin
“Skating Around the World” which focused on skating performances featuring themes from Africa, Ireland, the North Pole, Austria, Egypt, Japan, Brazil, and the United States. The show featured skaters from all over local Colorado skating clubs to junior figure skating champions including Kaitlyn Kenyon Hoppal and Alex Wellman. These children were very lucky to receive their coaching from some of the very best figure skaters at Columbine Figure Skating Club. A special thank you to the coaches who helped these children during this program: Britney Simpson, Liz Scott, Patti Snyder, Bernie Creevey, Lena Nguyen, Maia Brown, and Kaitlyn Hamlin. It was quite the privilege for the kids to learn their choreography and dance routines for the ice skating show from renown coaches whom many are USFS freestyle competing champions and national champions, who have worked for Disney on Ice and skated in the Holiday Ice Follies, and who are past USFS and ISU double gold medalists.
Jennifer Betz of the Columbine Figure Skating Club reached out to Melissa Tumblin of Ear Community for help regarding sharing this wonderful opportunity with the D/HH community. Melissa was able to reach out through her organization’s social media and support groups and also her daughter’s school district to reach out to families about the program. A very special thank you to Kim Nelson for volunteering to help each week at lessons and for coordinating, obtaining, and assigning each child’s costume and sizes and for helping out with props for the ice show. Thank you to everyone involved who came together to make this a fun program for these children and to make it successful! The Ear Community Organization was proud to be a part of this community program for the D/HH.
Children who participated in the D/HH program enjoyed being given FREE Apex Recreation Center punch cards to further their figure skating skills even more. Each lesson included snacks and recognition certificates, skating medals, and trophies. After participating in the ice skating show, these lucky children were also allowed to keep their costumes that they skated in! The program was amazing and priceless for helping bring the D/HH community together while introducing these children to figure skating. A special thank you to Jennifer Betz of Columbine Figure Skating Club and to Melissa Tumblin of Ear Community for working together to bring this opportunity to life for these amazing kids! Thank you to Allison Barwick of Adams 12 School District for helping us spread the word through both Broomfield and Arvada schools and for helping us translate our brochure for Spanish speaking families. Thank you to Peggy Heath and Julia Faliano of Moutnain View Elementary School for helping spread the word to school families. A special thank you to Prudential, Columbine Figure Skating Club, Apex Recreational Center, Rocky Mountain Deaf School, US Figure Skating, and the Ear Community Organization for helping make everything possible for this wonderful D/HH program for the community to be a part of.
Here are some fun memories from this amazing program!
The Ear Community Organization
www.EarCommunity.org
About Melissa Tumblin
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