The American School for the Deaf (ASD) in Hartford, Connecticut is celebrating its 200th year anniversary (1817-2017). The ASD is the very first school for the deaf established in the United States of America, and also the first on the North American continent. This school has a long and rich history. As part of their 200 year anniversary celebration, the American School for the Deaf pursued a project to make a commemorative quilt, asking other schools for the deaf in the USA to contribute a quilt square to be included in the quilt.
The Idaho School for the Deaf and the Blind is one of the contributors of a quilt square for this 200 year anniversary quilt. Dorothy Ogden, who has worked in the Library and Copy Center for many years, agreed to apply her artistic talents in designing and completing the quilt square to represent the Idaho School for the Deaf and the Blind. The ISDB quilt square shows the school mascot, a Raptor, bouncing a basketball, and it shows the founding year for ISDB. If you look at the entire quilt, the ISDB square is in the second row from the top, near the left side. Administrator Brian Darcy, Director of Education Gretchen Spooner, and Director of Outreach Paula Mason attended the CEASD conference hosted by ASD in Hartford in April. They enjoyed participating in the anniversary celebration and learning about the history of the school, and took this picture of the quilt.
Thank you, Dorothy Ogden, for creating this beautiful quilt square to represent our school. And congratulations to the American School for the Deaf upon their 200th year anniversary. The legacy of establishing schools for the deaf in America started with this very first school in the year 1817!