After she clicked her silver slippers and returned to Delaware from the peculiar world of Oz, Amelia Berg said that she really enjoyed signing during the Delaware School for the Deaf’s production of “Wizard of Oz” so both deaf and hearing people could enjoy the show.
Berg, a sixth-grade student at DSD, played the role of Dorothy in the production earlier this month, which coincided with the school’s 50th anniversary. The celebration brought together alumni, community members and current students to celebrate the work the school does.
“We have a really good culture at the school,” Berg said through an interpreter. “I believe that DSD is really good for us, supporting the deaf community and deaf children who would otherwise be stuck going to hearing schools.”
The school is housed within the Christina School District, but it supports all 19 school districts and charter schools within the state.
Its origins, however, can be traced to humbler beginnings. In 1929, Margaret Sterck opened a one-room school for deaf students in Grace Church in Wilmington.
“It started with a 3-year-old little boy that they couldn’t figure out how to set up services for, and it went from there,” said Dr. Laurie Kettle-Rivera, director of DSD.
A year later, Sterck purchased a house on Van Buren Street in Wilmington to create a school and a private residence.