Participants


	Alim Chandani Program Coordinator Alim Chandani graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) with a B.S. in New Media and E-Business and from New York University with a M.A. in Deafness Rehabilitation and Higher Education. Alim is now working towards obtaining his doctorate degree in Administration and Supervision in Special Education at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. In 2005, Alim was a human rights delegate for Global Youth Connect with fellow delegates in Cambodia. Inspired by this experience, he conceived the idea of providing cross-cultural programs for American deaf youth within developing countries. Thus, the concept of GRO was born. Presently, Alim has a specific mission and vision and carefully plans each trip in furtherance of GRO's goals. He constantly looks for ways to create and enrich global networks between deaf communities and seeks the long-term success of these connections.
	Bregitt Viviana Jimenez GRO Delegate Bregitt Viviana Jimenez is a proud Latino Deaf Woman from Chicago, Illinois; her family comes from Mexico. She was one of the seven GRO-Honduras '09 delegates where it was her first time working with international deaf youth. Bregitt graduated from Gallaudet University in May 2010 with a degree in communication studies. She has worked in several camps such as World Federation of the Deaf Youth Section Camp, Keeping the Promise Leadership retreat, Deaf Youth Camp in Michigan, and Latino Leadership retreat. Additionally, she successfully coordinated camp 2009 for the Deaf Youth United States America in Fort Collins, Colorado, focusing on developing leadership skills for Deaf youth. Bregitt’s future goal is to enroll into the Master’s of Social Work program at Gallaudet University. With this degree, she wants to work with deaf people of diversity and to educate them about leadership and opportunities that are available.
	Janette Duran GRO Delegate Janette Duran is currently a graduate student at Gallaudet University. She is set to receive her Masters in School Counseling in May 2010. Born deaf in Mexico, Janette moved to the United States when she was six years old. She was raised in the state of California. Her first language is Spanish, and she later picked up English and ASL. She received her Bachelor's in Child Development from California State University of Northridge (CSUN). She has started her practicum at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School and is thus far enjoying herself. Janette considers herself a people person; she loves to meet new people from similar and different backgrounds. She believes that the more people you meet the more your knowledge and perceptions of people and life expands. Throughout her experiences Janette has worked as a Student Assistant, Teacher's Assistant, Camp Counselor, Group Leader for CSUN's Orientation, President of her sorority, Treasurer of Deaf CSUNians, Mentor for freshmen students, receptionist for a photography company, and has volunteered in numerous community services. Janette's recent trip to Jamaica last January has inspired her need to connect with others globally and to empower and advocate for deaf individuals. She is honored to be a delegate for GRO and looks forward to having a great experience.
	Lindsay Buchko GRO Delegate Lindsay Buchko, deaf since birth, graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and a M.S. in Quality Applied Statistics. She was an industrial engineer with Intel Corporation for three years. She has also worked at International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation and at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center, and with Motorola Corporation. Currently, she is a Mathematics and General Studies instructor at Gallaudet University. Lindsay has served as an ambassador in the PEN-International program at National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) with the goals of improving and expanding post secondary education for the deaf and hard of hearing students around the world by sharing educational technology. Through this program, she went to Moscow, Russia and became inspired to do more for the deaf community. It is her hope that she will be able to advocate and educate the deaf community of the resources and rights that the deaf community should have and can have. Lindsay lives by the quote: "Life is a journey, not a destination. Live it, embrace it, and help others."
	Michelle Lapides GRO Delegate Michelle Lapides hails from Frederick, Maryland. She was born Deaf and raised in a Deaf household. She graduated from Maryland School for the Deaf in June 2007, since Frederick is a mere hour's drive from the District of Columbia. Growing up, Gallaudet University has always felt like her backyard. So, after graduation, she went straight to Gallaudet to begin her studies: she is currently a second-year student at Gallaudet, majoring in Communication Studies. Michelle was crowned as NAD Miss Deaf America in the 2008 NAD Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. She will hold her title for two years, 2008-2010. Miss Deaf America is an ambassador for the NAD and a spokeswoman for approximately 32 million deaf and hard of hearing Americans. During her two-year term, she will travel across the country to make various appearances. Even with a crown on her head, she is also active in her community. Michelle is the Class of 2011 Senator for Gallaudet's Student Body Government's biweekly Student Congress, she inspired Gallaudet with a brand new tradition of Buff and Blue Wednesdays, she is the Creative Director of Gallaudet's newest TV series, 8th Street, and much more. Michelle was born with one thing and it has remained with her ever since - it is the reason why she is the person she is today - and that thing is passion. She is passionate with what she does in life. Michelle is thrilled to be granted with this wonderful opportunity to make a difference in Honduras!
	Silvia Lopez GRO Delegate Silvia Lopez who was born deaf is a Vocational Rehabilitation counselor with the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation in North Carolina. In this role, Silvia manages a caseload of deaf and hard of hearing clients providing all aspects of counseling, including advocating, marketing and empowering. A big believer in independence for people with disabilities though partnership and community leadership supports any organizations with the same vision, Silvia is a competent counselor and holds a Bachelor's degree in Social Work from Rochester Institute of Technology. Silvia is currently studying for her Master's degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from University of North Texas. Silvia is no stranger to the helping hand field, having earned experiences as a nanny, lifeguard, ASL instructor, resident advisor, tutor, camp counselor, swim instructor, sales associate, office clerk and school social work intern, which taught her the important of strong work ethic, optimal self-sufficiency and sheer independence. Silvia has always been a doer and a metaphor for ideas put into action. Silvia helped set up Deaf Professional Happy Hour (DPHH) in Raleigh and Fayetteville this past year with Shane Feldman and his staff. She also campaigned tirelessly for local movie theaters to feature close captioning in Fayetteville and succeed. Professionally, Silvia initiated Skills Building workshop to assist clients with job retention with five other specialized disability counselors. GRO-Honduras was her first trip as a volunteer and not the last. In her spare time, she enjoys reading; dancing and helping the disabled realize their opportunities to learn, to grow and to serve.
	Victoria Flis GRO Delegate Victoria Flis was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the city of brotherly love in 1987. She has always been fascinated by the complexities that surround her. As a child, she was exposed to many cultures and developed a love of diversity specifically because they presented highly order yet amazingly complex culture and society. Once in college, her interests turned to psychology and like to study in the field related cultures. She is currently a student at Gallaudet University. She loves to interact with people especially with children and she is planning to go to a graduate school to become a mental health counselor. The reason she has such a strong desire for achievement in academics is to gain knowledge, to seek out improvement in quality of life for Deaf youth and to encourage their activism in the Deaf community. After all, she has one life and one chance to make it count for something. She is free to choose what that something is, and that something that she had chosen is her faith. Her faith demands that she can give a tip to make a different. Throughout this unlikely path, one common trend remains: her focuses was, and continue to be, determined by an underlying interest in studying and understanding the complexities. GRO-Honduras will be her first time as a volunteer in another country and definitely not the last one. She is looking forward for this opportunity to make the success for GRO-Honduras.
	Aura Rivas Host Delegate At age 11, Aura was living in a rural area about one hour outside of Tegucigalpa. She had a handful of home signs she used with her family, no formal education, could not read or write, and did not know her own name. A missionary brought Aura to Little Rock, Arkansas where she attended the Arkansas School for the Deaf. Aura lived with a foster family who signed fluently. Her foster father was Deaf and her foster mother was an interpreter. Their four children were all fluent signers. Aura learned quickly and advanced from 2nd grade to 4th grade to 7th grade. She graduated in 2000, and one week later returned to her home country, Honduras, to work among the Deaf community with New Life Deaf Ministry. She is now a kindergarten teacher with the Happy Hands School for the Deaf, married to a wonderful Deaf man, and has a 5-year-old daughter (hearing). Aura serves in leadership within the New Life Deaf Church.
	Larry Rivas Host Delegate Larry grew up in a very poor but large family. Larry grew up with two Deaf brothers and his mom is also Deaf. They used more home signs than formal LESHO signs in the home. Larry did not have the opportunity to attend school growing up and has very minimal formal education. However, he is very smart and has worked his way up from a maintenance man to special projects assistant at New Life Deaf Ministry. Larry is married to Aura Diaz (Deaf) and they have a 5-year-old daughter (hearing) who is tri-lingual (LESHO, Spanish, English). Larry loves to laugh and have fun. He is an avid soccer fan and likes to play soccer with the Deaf soccer league in Honduras. Larry and Aura are currently teaching a discipleship course at New Life Deaf Church where they both serve in leadership.