[ Music ] >> All right.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Federal Way Public Schools.

We're so happy to host this year's Ability Awareness Screening Celebration and recognize five years of partnership with KBTC.

[ Applause ] All right, and this has been just an amazing process and an amazing project that we've done.

It's allowed our scholars to get really hands-on with video production and also be able to share their voices, which is absolutely phenomenal.

[ Applause ] Most importantly, today, as a matter of fact, is that we are celebrating our scholars and the work that they've created.

And this is really this came from the scholars, the ideas -- and just how this came out really has a lot to do with the scholars' voice.

And I also want to thank you, the families, the staff, the district staff that have helped to make this happen, because without all of all of the people involved in this, it wouldn't have been possible.

And we're excited to share their work with you today.

I want to thank our scholars, our families, our Federal Way public school staff, the KBTC team, who have been phenomenal, and everyone who supported this partnership -- families have been involved in in supporting their students, which we greatly appreciate.

We are so proud to welcome you here today.

And moving forward here, I would like to welcome Sherry Stanton from KBTC, and she's going to take it from here.

[ Applause ] You know what?

I just noticed -- I think we just had a little error here, but actually, Christina is going to speak next.

>> Thank you, Jane.

Good morning again.

Thank you so much to the KBTC team, especially Peter and Jamie and Jeff for joining our DHH scholars on Wednesday mornings last spring.

It has been wonderful to see them involved in the KBTC Ability Awareness Project this year, and have the opportunity to learn about video production in a hands-on way.

So they stepped behind the camera, learned about framing and lighting and audio setup, and put those skills into action to create their own video, so we are very proud of the work that they've done, and we're excited for you all to see it today.

[ Applause ] >> More thanks, thank you, Christina and Jane and Federal Way Public Schools for hosting us today and being such an incredible partner over these past five years.

From the beginning, our goal has been to create opportunities for young people to share their experiences and their own stories through media.

And I don't know if you all know this, but it began as a pilot project with funding from Sesame Workshop, so the Sesame Street people just wanted to invest in this in the very beginning, and it's become something very special because of this partnership.

I've got this really exciting news.

I'm going to take a breath.

In fact, I'm excited to announce that earlier this week, Ability Awareness, this shared work that we're all doing received an award from the National Educational Telecommunications Association.

So that's an awesome way to celebrate five years.

[ Applause ] And we'll reach out to your media department to see if you want to partner on a PSA.

But in the meantime, I want to invite Savannah up to -- she's a director on our board, the KBTC Association board, to share a little bit more about why this work is important to KBTC.

[ Applause ] >> Thank you, Sherry.

It's wonderful to be here celebrating five years of Ability Awareness, and most importantly, the heart of the work, which is the scholars.

Representation matters.

Everyone deserves the opportunity to see people like themselves, their experiences, abilities, and voices reflected in the media they watch.

Public media has a unique opportunity to create space for stories and voices that may not always be represented.

That is what makes Ability Awareness so meaningful.

We're creating media with scholars, not simply about them, and giving them an opportunity to help shape how their stories are told.

To our scholars, your voices and your stories matter.

Thank you for sharing them with us.

On a personal note, I'm navigating special education with a third grader.

And so when I see you all being so brave and putting your heart into this, it means so much to me because you're truly paving the way for visibility and inclusion for the next generation.

So thank you on a personal note.

And a big thank you to Federal Way Public Schools, our families, educators, partners, and everyone who has helped make these last five years possible.

Now I'd like to turn it over to Peter and Jeff, who've worked directly with our scholars to bring these stories to life.

[ Applause ] >> Thank you so much.

So much wonderful stuff.

I think we are all really proud of the program that we were able to put together the last five years.

I can't believe it's actually been five years.

You know, and thinking, kind of reflecting what the -- how the project started at the outset.

I have to be honest; we really weren't quite sure how to pull it off.

And five years later, I think we're kind of in the same boat because we always approach each year kind of with a fresh perspective and trying to be open to whatever group we're working with.

And just being in that process, it takes a lot of people and a lot of coordination to be able to pull off the program.

But yeah, I'm thinking about kind of my relationship with Jeff, and as we kind of plan for being on location or what we're going to do each day is brand new.

[Chuckles].Yeah, yeah.

>> Yeah.

We tried to -- I mean I guess we kind of developed our process over the years.

I mean in the beginning we started just doing audio only recordings at the very beginning.

And then later we came in with a green screen and we shot the scholars against the green screen.

And then all the way up to now, we've kind of evolved to where we're going on location with the scholars and shooting them entirely on location in their -- you know, in their, you know, comfortable setting and where they're used to working and learning, and so it's been a great experience.

>> Yeah.

Also thank you so much to ETP and the DHH program for letting us into your schedule and all the other responsibilities and all the other -- I know there's so many different places where your attention needs to go.

So it's really an honor to be able to co-create this media, and I hope it exists for another five years.

>> Yeah, at least.

Thank you.

>> Thanks.

[ Applause ] Jeff and I are also doing playback.

So yeah, I think we're going to go ahead and we're going to play the first video.

And this is kind of the main video that we completed with the DHH program.

And this was really exciting.

We really didn't know coming in what DHH program would be interested in or up for, and sort of very quickly, we realized that it would be really fun and interesting to include the DHH folks in the media production itself.

So then it became about what project can we create in a short time frame, you know, six to eight sessions that is going to yield some media and be fun and interesting?

I think that's the most kind of important thing.

They wouldn't be interesting projects if the students themselves were bored, and that's -- You know, that's part of it is keeping it interesting.

So I won't say any more.

We'll go ahead and play that first video.

>> KBTC presents Ability Awareness.

[ Music ] Today we're on location with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program at Todd Beamer High School.

Here to tell you more about the DHH program and its collaboration with KBTC, Samantha Notario.

>> Well my name is Samantha.

It's my sign name.

My last name is Notario, and I work at Todd Beamer High School, and my position is as a DHH teacher.

So the DHH program stands for Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

This program is specifically for students that have hearing loss, and it provides them special instruction and communication tools within the classroom to provide them full access, so they can be most successful in their education.

So they use specific tools like ASL interpreters, speech therapists, assistive listening devices that help them get through their high school careers.

[ Music ] So the KBTC Ability Awareness Program worked with our DHH program and came and visited and taught the kids really cool techniques, how to use the camera equipment, how to set it up, and my students learned and had hands-on experience, were really interested in it.

And it's great for students that maybe in the future would be interested and maybe getting into the business of video production, and it's a new skill for them.

They chose an audiologist to interview because one of my DHH students, Noella, she wants to become an audiologist for her career in the future.

So she chose to interview one, ask them questions, things that she was curious about, like what do they do as an audiologist to help DHH students, like providing hearing aids, cochlears, and working with those.

That's pretty typical.

They're a pretty important part of the DHH program.

Yeah, yeah.

They were a bit nervous.

It was a lot of information: how to set up cameras, you know, new faces and everything.

They were definitely nervous.

They didn't know what was going on.

This is definitely a new concept for them.

But over time, it seemed like they really enjoyed it.

It's a very hands-on experience working with the cameras, and I think they felt confident and really enjoyed working with you and with the cameras.

I think they want to do it again next year.

And then next year maybe they can lead, be a leader in the situation for freshmen that come next year because they know what to do already, and they've experienced it before.

So those that are new, like freshmen next year, they can teach them.

I think it would be very fascinating for them.

>> For more from the Ability Awareness Program and to watch the full DHH interview with audiologist Shannon Doolittle.

Please visit kbtc.org/abilityawareness.

[ Applause ] >> Luckily today you do not have to go to the website to watch the full interview that the DHH program coordinated.

We're going to see that next.

And the questions and the camera work and the lighting was all produced by the DHH program.

I just want to say I also love Sam's idea that in next year and years after that we're able to have the students themselves teach the incoming DHH students all the skills that they learn, and they can kind of produce everything even more on their own.

So without further ado, the DHH interview with Shannon Doolittle.

[ Applause ] >> KBTC presents Ability Awareness.

During the winter of 2026, KBTC led a video production workshop for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program at Todd Beamer High School.

As part of the workshop, students learned how to produce a two-camera video shoot and had the chance to interview a career professional of their choosing as a way to demonstrate their new skills.

The following is the program's culminating interview with audiologist Shannon Doolittle.

>> My name is Shannon Doolittle.

I am a pediatric audiologist.

I work at a children's hospital.

I look at the overall health of kids' ears and see how they hear.

And depending on those results, I recommend different types of follow-up.

I know a little bit of ASL, enough to get through a hearing test, but not more than that.

There's a couple of things that got me into audiology.

One of the things is I did -- I referred on a hearing screening in school in one year, and then I kind of exaggerated that.

[Laughs] Thought I knew about an audiologist.

I remember being in the booth when I was younger.

And then fast forward to the university that I went to, I got involved in research and I got to test chinchilla's hearing, and so I thought that was really fun to test an animal's hearing.

And then I was like, oh, the ear is really cool.

So that's kind of the path I took.

It's required to have a bachelor's degree, and so you can have a bachelor's degree in anything.

My bachelor's degree is in speech, hearing, and language sciences.

Then you go to grad school for three to four years to get your doctorate in audiology.

But you can really major in anything for undergrad as long as you take some classes that are needed for the grad program.

So I have some friends that have actually majored in like poetry or art history or biology, and they went into audiology after that.

I think my main goal right now is to help the hospital I work at start their cochlear implant program.

It's something very new, and a lot of times they have to get referred farther away from families' homes.

And so, if that's the choice that they want to make, it's great that we can offer that service closer to home.

I'm working on trying to start up like a side project for hearing protection.

I have a lot of friends that go to loud concerts, and so I'm starting to take remote impressions of them and get them hearing protection for those concerts.

If someone's interested in audiology, I'd recommend job shadowing.

That's kind of how I knew that I really wanted to go into audiology is being able to see someone do it in real time, and it shows you exactly what to expect for your day to day.

Audiology has a bunch of different options.

So you can work with adults; you can work with kids; you can work with both; you can work in the hospital; you can work in the school setting; you can work in sales.

There's also a branch of audiology where you can monitor hearing and other nerves during surgery, which is also a cool branch of audiology.

I've been in the surgeries where I can like see the surgery, but I almost fainted with the sight of blood, so that's a hard no for me.

[Laughs] The thing I like the most about my job is the relationships I get to make with my patients and their families.

That means the world to me.

One of the things that I don't like about my job is not being able to travel.

I think it would be cool to have a job that travels, but I'll take what I have for now.

>> If you weren't in audiology, what would you do as a career?

>> That's a hard question because I really do love audiology, but I think if I were to have a different option, I think it would be cool to be a detective.

I like solving problems and puzzles, and so that could be a cool career to go into.

[ Applause ] So cool.

Yeah!

Just a really neat experience all the way around, and we're so excited to keep on working with the DHH program and seeing how this can evolve and change.

The next two videos will just play back to back.

Those were coordinated with the ETP program that we've been lucky enough to collaborate with the last five years since the beginning.

And every year, our videos come out a little bit differently, and we kind of rethink maybe our approach based on you know our constraints and interests.

And again, I just can't stress enough that I think it's one of the best parts of the program is allowing it to change and evolve and accommodate everybody in all sorts of ways with their interests in time.

This location is actually interesting to show this video for the first time because it's also where the coffee cart is.

Would you mind sharing just a little bit about the Coffee Cart?

>> Hi, my name is Paulina.

I'm the career development specialist at ETP, and I have worked with Peter and his team on producing the video for the Coffee Cart.

And it was really fun, really cool.

I loved working with Peter and his team.

They were so supportive and so accommodating.

But Coffee Cart started towards the end of last year in April, and we're actually training next week.

So we'll keep you posted.

That's all I'm going to say for now.

But it's been really cool.

We got to work point of sale, which is something that I'm not sure we've ever gotten to do at ETP because it's so difficult sometimes to have to, like, include that at other work sites when we're not technically more than like a volunteer in a lot of cases.

So being able to do that has been really cool.

Learning how to be a barista by using an espresso machine, so awesome.

And it's just been so cool to see the confidence in our students as they get to interact with something that seems really scary at first, but once they learn all the techniques and all the steps, they just they start to build in confidence.

And I'm going to highlight a couple students here from last year.

Denzel and Jadrian did such a good job last year.

Janelle.

Janelle was such a good point of sale girl.

Oh my goodness!

And so this year we have a lot of first years that I'm hoping to put into the spotlight moving forward and have them learn new skills.

And so I'm just really excited and I'm so proud of them.

But yeah, thank you.

[ Applause ] >> Thank you so much.

So yeah, the first video that we'll see from ETP will be from the Coffee Cart, and we'll learn firsthand maybe some on location tips about -- I don't want to spoil it, so I'm trying.

I don't really.

I don't want to say what the video is, but yeah.

And then our second location job site was the garden.

And I'm wondering actually if any of the students want to share anything about the garden, maybe a favorite thing.

I'm kind of looking at you, Mark if there's any -- Or don't enjoy?

>> Yeah, not getting wet.

[ Laughter ] >> I enjoy pulling the weeds out of the ground.

[ Applause ] >> Thanks so much.

Okay.

So yeah, we'll just -- the first one would be the Coffee Cart, and the second the Weeds.

Thanks so much.

>> KBTC presents Ability Awareness.

Today we're on the job with interns from the Employment Transition Program at the Grounds for Growth Coffee Cart, where we're about to learn -- >> How to make a vanilla latte.

Step one.

>> Order.

>> Greet the customer and take the order.

>> Hi.

>> Hello.

What would you like to order?

>> Hi.

I'd like to order a vanilla latte, please.

[ Music ] >> Step two.

>> Donation.

>> Would you like to make a donation?

>> Grounds for Growth is donation only, and customers can choose how much they'd like to contribute to the coffee cart.

[ Music ] >> Step three.

>> Put syrup in their cup.

>> They have to put their syrup inside the cup.

[ Music ] >> Step four.

>> Grind coffee.

[ Grinding noise ] >> We have to add ground coffee to the filter and [inaudible].

[ Music ] Insert the [inaudible] into the expresso machine.

>> Step five.

>> Pour expresso [inaudible].

[ Music ] >> we had to pour the expresso and steam the milk.

[ Music ] [ Whisking sound ] >> Step six.

>> Stir.

>> Combine the [inaudible] espresso in the milk inside the cup.

[ Music ] >> Step seven.

>> Put a lid on the cup.

>> Put the lid on the coffee [inaudible] on the cup.

[ Music ] >> Give it to the customer.

>> Carefully deliver the coffee to the customer.

>> Have a good day.

>> Thank you.

Please come again.

[ Applause ] >> KBTC presents Ability Awareness.

Today we're on the job with interns from the Employment Transition Program, where we're about to learn -- >> Tips for working in the garden.

>> Hashtag I'm gonna get wet.

[ Music ] >> Tips for planting.

[ Music ] >> Get seeds for flowers, fruits, or vegetables.

[ Music ] Plant seeds in the spring.

Cover the seeds with dirt.

Don't plant seeds too close together.

[ Music ] >> Don't wear nice shoes or clothes when you're working in the garden.

Wear old clothes so you can get them dirty.

[ Music ] >> Wear gloves.

[ Music ] >> Wear sunscreen.

Pull weeds.

[ Music ] >> Weeds can be very sneaky in the garden.

They may try to disguise themselves as flowers.

My tip is make sure that everything is done properly to get rid of the weeds.

Make sure they didn't drop any of their seeds.

Like dandelions.

Dandelions.

seeds can spread if you don't pull them correctly out.

>> Tips for watering.

>> Water plants with a hose.

>> Unroll the hose.

Turn on the water.

[ Music ] Turn the nozzle to a soft spray.

Water gently.

[ Music ] >> Don't get wet with the hose like I did.

>> Turn off the water.

>> Okay.

>> Roll the hose back up.

[ Music ] Watch out for bugs.

>> Whoops.

>> Spider.

[ Music ] >> I like to wear sunglasses in the garden.

Looks cool.

[ Music ] >> Thank you.

[ Applause ] >> That's a wrap.

>> Ability Awareness is a KBTC production made possible in partnership with scholars from the Employment Transition Program and the Federal Way Public Schools, and with funding from Best Starts for Kids, a King County initiative.

To learn more about the Ability Awareness Program, please visit kbtc.org/abilityawareness.

[ Applause ] [ Laughter ] >> So now we get to -- we're done lots of thanking this morning, and now we get to recognize the people at the heart of Ability Awareness, our scholars, and -- thank you.

And as they do every year, each scholar brought their own creativity, knowledge, and experience to this year's program.

So thank you all for sharing your talents and helping us tell these stories.

You're truly what makes this whole project special.

So if you participated in the project this year, I know I think you guys mostly right here and right here, go ahead and raise your hand.

We have some awards we're going to pass out.

And we're just going to take a beat to make sure everybody gets their award and a photo with their award.

Yeah.

All right.

Yeah.

I think we're going to start right over here at this table, maybe with Janelle.

[Laughs] Woo!

[ Applause ] All right.

All right.

Congratulations!

Good job!

[ Applause ] Yes.

And don't get wet.

[Laughs] [ Applause ] Nice.

All right.

All right.

Let's take a couple pictures here.

Nice.

[Nervously laughs] Thank you.

All right.

And now the DHH program stars.

Oh, there's.

Oh, oh, we've got -- >> Yeah.

[ Applause ] And now the DHH program.

Marta.

[ Applause ] Thank you, everybody.

Okay.

One more round of applause for these amazing people.

[ Applause ]