Personal Narrative: Danielle's Career-Focused Intents

Danielle’s career-focused intents started young. The first job she can remember wishing for was to do missionary work out of the country, and the only route to do the job was to pursue medical school, and with a fear of blood and needles, that wasn’t an option. Growing up, her first paid job was done “under the table.” At around 4 years old, she was enrolled in dance classes, and every day she tried to sneak into the other classrooms. “I am not a very fluid mover, I was a very stiff child, like stiff and awkward. I kept sneaking over to try, and my mom came to pick me up one day from dance and I wasn’t there! I was in gymnastics! And I was able to do a pullover on the barre and the coach was like, hey, you might wanna consider keeping her in …show more content…
The language was expressive and their culture fascinating, very different and honest in comparison to American English. Learning ASL came easily to her, memorize the vocabulary, study the culture and learn the grammar. By attending as many deaf events as she could, it was easy to become immersed. The language “clicked” for her at a young age, but when she began school at University of South Florida, it was difficult at first. Because she grew up home schooled with parents who were always eager to make her education easy, they always found the way that she needed to learn each subject. When she was enrolled at University of South Florida, interpreting felt like the first genuine challenge she had faced. “...it was hard to figure out, well, I did that right but why is that not the clearest way? And why are they saying I’m not doing well? It was kind of nice because it was a really good challenge, and it made me challenge the way that I thought about the work that I was doing and the effort I was putting into …show more content…
With interpreting in many different settings, fields and people, the education has gone beyond the classroom. When she started interpreting, schools seemed like a fun place to start. She adored children and didn’t grow up with a mainstream education, so it would be an eye-opening place to start. Unfortunately, the teachers assumed that she was judging their work and due to strict school policies regarding the way that they could be taught, she discovered the elementary classroom wasn’t for her. In the education field, collegiate-level interpreting is the most exciting. Beyond the basic classes, she interpreted for cosmetology training, medical assistance and her favorite has been the photography track. By choosing ASL over pottery, she kind of missed the chance to experience art classes for “fun” in college. “Ironically, not wanting to be in the medical profession, I actually really really like medical interpreting. I enjoy it because it’s very technical, and so when I get to do medical interpreting, it’s kind of a rewarding feeling because I know that what I’m doing is giving clarity to someone, who would not have had that understanding without an interpreter or with an interpreter who was unable to do the job