#NADHandwave: February 2016

Victorica Monroe, a Mississippi native, is this month’s #NADhandwave recipient! She has been nominated in recognition of her strong leadership and activism regarding #GallyCampusRacism.

If you know Victorica, you know that she is humble and very strong willed. Her colorful and energized personality makes her approachable and trustworthy. Victorica is devoted to working with deaf children, especially deaf children of color, and ensuring their rights to equal education.  Communication access is an issue she advocates for tirelessly. Victorica believes that access to sign language at an early age will produce positive results. 

Her leadership background includes being the Director of Diversity and the Fellowship program with the Student Body Government at Gallaudet University. She has worked at Camp Mark 7 as the Director of Team Building.  She helped found Gallaudet Students of Color. She participated in the NAD Leadership Training Conference (NLTC) in Birmingham, Alabama in September 2015.

Victorica is recently known for bringing attention to #GallyCampusRacism at Gallaudet University last December and worked closely with administration to promote the needed change. Through grassroot efforts, she was able to collaborate with other students of color, faculty, and staff on campus. She helped Black Student Union with producing several videos, which has hundreds of shares and likes.

Victorica was raised in Arcola, Mississippi and attended the Mississippi School for the Deaf starting at the early age of 3 years old.  She spent her childhood there and graduated. She studied at Hinds Community College and received an Associate of Arts in 2013. Eventually, she graduated from Gallaudet University with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education and Recreation in 2015, while getting the President’s Scholar award, Cum Laude.  Currently, Victorica is a teacher at her old stomping grounds at the Mississippi School for the Deaf. She plans to get a Master’s Degree in Deaf Education and is open to studying for a doctorate.

The NAD thanks you Victorica, for your passion and commitment towards equality. Your unconditional love for deaf education is admirable and we believe in you.

The NAD gives monthly #NADhandwaves to people in our community. This is great opportunity for the NAD to recognize exemplary people for the work they do. With such great people, the world continues to progress. If you know someone who deserves a #NADHandwave, submit your suggestion online!

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The NAD was established in 1880 by deaf leaders who believed in the right of the American deaf community to use sign language, to congregate on issues important to them, and to have its interests represented at the national level. As a nonprofit federation, the mission of the NAD is to preserve, protect, and promote the civil, human, and linguistic rights of deaf and hard of hearing people in the United States. The advocacy scope of the NAD is broad, covering the breadth of a lifetime and impacting future generations in the areas of early intervention, education, employment, health care, technology, telecommunications, youth leadership, and more.