Daisy Wishard and Marlee Stake share their experiences as first-time attendees and student interpreters at HELIX, the annual conference celebrating high expectations for students with low incidence disabilities. Serving as student interpreters allowed them to practice their American Sign Language(ASL) interpretation skills in a real-world setting while contributing to the accessibility of the conference.

PaTTAN Deaf and Hard of Hearing Initiative: https://www.pattan.net/Disabilities/Deaf-and-Hard-of-Hearing HELIX Conference: https://www.pattan.net/Training/Conferences/HELIX-Conference

Daisy Wishard is a junior at Mount Aloysius college majoring in American Sign Language and English Interpreting. Her passion for wanting to be in the Interpreting field came about at a very young age. Her upbringing as a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults), has allowed her to be exposed to Deaf culture and the Deaf community. Daisy has been given the opportunity to interpret for her parents out in public which has deeply rooted a strong passion of wanting to become fully educated and improve her skills to work in the Interpreting field as a Certified Interpreter.

Marlee Stake is a senior in the American Sign Language and English Interpreting Program at Mount Aloysius College. After graduating in the Spring, she plans on focusing on community interpreting, with a strong interest in medical interpreting.

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