10/29/2026
**CCBC Interpreter Preparation Program Partners with Laurel Historical Society!**
The CCBC Interpreter Preparation Program partnered with the Laurel Historical Society and Johns Hopkins Museum Studies program to make local history more accessible to the Deaf community! Through this collaboration, ASL-interpreted videos were created for the Laurel Museums and its current exhibit, *Beyond the 4th: Stories of Laurel’s Freedom Celebrations*. Visitors can access the videos using QR codes throughout the museum, providing an inclusive and engaging experience.
This exciting partnership was featured in both the Laurel Historical Society’s e-newsletter and *The Laurel Light*! What a wonderful example of CCBC's commitment to accessibility, community engagement, and meaningful partnerships!
This September, the Laurel Historical Society launched an American Sign Language (ASL) tour of our current exhibition, Beyond the 4th: Stories of Laurel's Freedom Celebrations. This tour was created through a special partnership with the Communication Arts Department at the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) and the Johns Hopkins Museum Studies program.
We invite you to stop by the Laurel Museum to access these videos with an ASL interpreter via QR codes that guide visitors and provide background information on both the museum and its current exhibit.
We want to thank Shawn Clements-Ahava, a graduate student in Johns Hopkins Museum Studies program for helping create the tour, CCBC professors Dr. Rebecca Minor and Stephen Kennedy for their direction, and of course the CCBC students who assisted with the project to help make the Laurel Museum and its exhibit more accessible.
