August 29, 2019 - Jack Williams was born and raised in Minnesota, he is the fourth generation of a Deaf family. He works as the Student Life Coordinator at Metro Deaf School and is in his twelfth year there. As a side job, Jack has been a professional photographer for the past six years, photographing various events and occasions. Jack is an avid gardener who grows flowers, vegetables, and fruits. He enjoys the outdoors, camping, canoeing, and kayaking.
Jack’s role at Metro Deaf School includes overseeing student life team and staff who work one on one with students and deafblind guides. He ensures that the team does everything necessary to meet the students’ needs. He is responsible for creating different programs related to clubs, homework tutoring, community interaction and involvement with communities around the twin cities. Jack is also in charge of the sports teams at MDS. The sports they offer at MDS are volleyball, basketball, track and field, cross country, and soccer. Part of the sports program involves raising money to support the sports teams, such as the pancake breakfast, which Jack is responsible for coordinating and organizing.
Because this is Jack’s 12th year of working at MDS, this is the first year he has seen the graduating students of high school class go all the way through school starting in kindergarten. In today’s society, Jack feels that kids are so focused on technology and have lost social skills. To reduce the amount of attachment to technology, Jack wants to help students develop their inner identities and learn about who they are without technology. He wants to encourage the development of social skills by being a positive role model and making sure they feel good and strong about themselves. To make this happen, he says, students need to have good stimuli such as conversations and interactions. Not just surface-level conversations, rather, stimulating conversations with people who care about them and will listen to their struggles and frustrations.
He says, if there is a disagreement, a compromise needs to be made. Everyone needs to learn to resolve issues and move on because everyone has a different perspective. Different perspectives are a good thing because you can learn about new things that you didn’t know about before.
Jack’s advice to others is, “You must work harder. Be prepared to experience frustrations and barriers at times. There is no perfect moment. You will always see something you don’t like. Don’t run away. Persist. You will get a job eventually. Never say never. Be positive and it will work out. Sometimes jobs are entry-level, you have to start there, but you can work your way up the ladder. Ask people questions, find resources that are everywhere.”
The #CanDoAnything campaign showcases people who are deaf, deafblind, or hard of hearing at work, giving them an opportunity to share what they do at their jobs and explain how communication access works for them. This campaign shows what our community can do, which is anything!
