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Kindergarten graduates of the Melinda Webb School celebrated their recent graduation by giving speeches about themselves to the crowd of proud families and teachers who recognized such an important milestone.
The Melinda Webb School, a branch of the Texas Hearing Institute, prepares students who are deaf and hard of hearing to enter general education classrooms by the first grade.
For the families who want their deaf and hard-of-hearing students to learn in traditional classrooms and develop their speech skills, the Texas Hearing Institute's efforts don't go unnoticed.
"Magic happens here every day and we really are a testament to that because we see it every day in our daughter, Victoria. Thank you so much to the Melinda Webb School and Texas Hearing Institute for giving our daughter the chance to hear and the chance to express herself and to know that her voice is important and that her words are meaningful," Victoria's mother, Maria Fernandez said to the Houston Daily.
Texas Hearing Institute, formally known as the Center for Hearing and Speech, depends on support from corporations, foundations, individuals and the United Way to make a difference in the lives of their students.
During the graduation, parents shared their journeys to finding Texas Hearing Institute and the Melinda Webb School, where their children received audiology services, speech therapy services and attended the school, which lead to their child graduating from kindergarten able to listen and speak.
"All the progress she [Victoria's] has made this year, for us has just been incredibly joyful, and just to be here is a great celebration for all of us, and in our case, I think it's just a lot of wonderful things coming together, and all of these things are right here and we are very grateful to the teachers who have given the kindergarten curriculum to our other children with hearts, with souls with kindness," Fernandez said in her own speech.