ashley

CHAIR

ASHLEY THOMPSON

Ashley Thompson has been a teacher at the Marie Philip School at the Learning Center for the Deaf for many years. The very school in which she started at herself when she was 11 months old. Not only an educator, she is also an advocate of the Deaf. She has volunteered numerous hours as an Education Advocate for the Nat’l Association of the Deaf as well as the Massachusetts State Association of the Deaf assisting family members at Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meetings, meeting with students, and working on legislative policy changes. Ashley graduated from Gallaudet University with her Masters in American Sign Language/English Bilingual Deaf Education in 2011. She is recognized as an education advocate for Deaf and Hard of Hearing children in the state of Massachusetts. She was part of a key legislative change movement that successfully waived discriminatory phonological portions of a statewide teacher licensing test for deaf and hard of hearing teachers. Ashley is always looking for ways to make a difference and takes time to study special education laws and strategies in order to serve our community.  It is her dream to see all Deaf and Hard of Hearing children lead a bright, successful life. While she is passionate about education and language acquisition, she also enjoys to take a few minutes to relax and watch a little Netflix or get away to the mountains! 

jen

COMMUNITY ORGANIZING

JENNIFER O’BRIEN

Jennifer O’Brien is a licensed educator and has taught Deaf children in elementary school. She is currently an ASL instructor at Bristol Community College, a Deaf Educator through the Public School Partnerships program with The Learning Center for the Deaf, and works with families through the Family Sign Language Program. Jenn has held workshops for a community ASL class, and has taught at Northeastern University in the ASL Immersion track of their Annual Summer Symposium. Jenn studied at Gallaudet for her bachelor’s degree and then went on to Boston University for her Master’s degree in Deaf Education. Jenn’s passion is spreading awareness of language rights for Deaf children, and sharing resources for Deaf children and their families. When she is not teaching, she enjoys spending time with her family.

cathy

LEGISLATIVE

CATHY COGEN

Cathy Cogen moved to Massachusetts in 1975 and was privileged to have made friends with Marie Philip, Ella Mae Lentz, and Nancy Becker who opened the door to a lifelong alliance with and love for the Massachusetts Deaf Community. Cathy has worked alongside Deaf and DeafBlind advocates for nearly 40 years. As president of MassRID, she had a lead role in the drafting and passage in 1983 of the “Deaf Rights Bill” insuring the provision of interpreters in the courts, the right to bring Hearing Dogs into public places, and the distribution of TTY’s to Deaf citizens. She was among a small team of advocates called DeafBlind Interpreter Allies whose efforts brought about the DeafBlind Community Access Network in 2001. An active member of the Conference of Interpreter Trainers and the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Cathy led efforts to develop the National Standards for Interpreting Education and was instrumental in building organizational capacity for the accreditation of interpreting education programs. In her professional life, she worked at The Learning Center for two years before joining the Northeastern University ASL Program. Cathy was the first director of the ASL Program from 1977 to 1986. She served as grant writer and director of NU’s federally funded regional and national interpreter education projects between 1980 and 2015, when she retired from the University. Currently, her energies are devoted to her grandchildren, LEAD-K, teaching yoga, cooking, and tap dancing.

sarah

COMMUNITY ORGANIZING

SARAH HONIGFELD

Sarah Honigfeld is our go-to person for anything related to Early Intervention and resources for deaf and hard of hearing children birth to three years old and their families! She graduated from Northeastern University in 2013 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Services, Sociology and Early Intervention, as well as a Master of Arts degree in School Counseling and Early Intervention from Gallaudet University in 2017. She currently works at The Learning Center for the Deaf in Framingham as their Parent Infant Program Coordinator. She identifies as Deaf and bilingual in both American Sign Language and English. When she is not working, she enjoys cooking and traveling!

patrick

WEBSITE

PATRICK PETRONELLI

Patrick Petronelli is a graphic and HTML/CSS coder specializing in web design and development.  He graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2005 with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Graphic Design and Web Development.  Previously, he has worked for MSM Productions Ltd where he designed and developed for the Deaf community for over 4 years.  He is currently working with kids who deal with mental, physical and emotional challenges. He fell in love with the job and then joined LEAD-K to support in any way he can!  Patrick is a huge Mac fan, loves coffee every morning, and must watch any reality competition shows!