Passion. Kelly Flores has but one, she says, and it is American Sign Language. "It's the only thing I've loved enough to really learn," she said.
Kelly connected with sign as an adult. A friend was deaf and in order to communicate, Kelly and she would write notes. Kelly says, "I got sick of writing back and forth, so I told her to teach me sign."
Kelly formally learned sign through the Interpreter Training Program at Lansing Community College and became a qualified interpreter six years ago. She has since earned her QAIII, which she describes as "basically one step below national certification."
OPHS requires all of its staff interpreters to be certified at least QAIII in the state of Michigan. This level signifies that, among other situations, one can interpret for large crowds, technical classes and high-level college classes.
Kelly is studying for her national certification or RID. She plans to take the written portion within the next two years and the performance within the next five years. She is also an undergraduate at MSU, studying linguistics part time.
Ideally, Kelly would like to coordinate and advocate bi-lingual/bi-cultural mainstream education for deaf students at the pre-elementary and elementary levels of public schools. "It's a pipe dream," she says. "There's no real avenue for this yet. I'll have to make my own way, teaching teachers of deaf students the merits of ASL and the use of two languages."
Kelly's personal life is oriented around her family. She has a "wonderful husband" and a six-month old daughter. She "devours" books; her favorite authors are Anne Rice and William Shakespeare. "Basically I like to read anything that isn't a Harlequin romance," she said, smiling, "not that I want to insult Harlequin readers out there." Her passions are reserved for her family and interpreting.