By Katy Whittingham | [email protected] 

The second-annual Elizabeth DeLong School of the Deaf’s Art Night was held March 12 and featured artists from the Deaf, Blind, and Deaf-Blind community and students from Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind’s new Springville campus. 

Deanna Glasser, the director of Educational Programs at the Elizabeth DeLong School, said, “EDS Art Night was a family affair. Most of the school’s families came.” Glasser said that work was displayed from local Deaf artists that included their staff members and some graduates from the USDB’s Millcreek campus. “One of the boats was also brought from the Salt Lake City campus to add the Springville students’ handprints to.” 

Over 100 people came through the event in slots of 10 or less because of Covid precautions. Educators at the school, Cathleen Martinez and Katrina Robinson, organized the event, and staff spent hours the night before setting up. 

The Springville campus is named after prominent Deaf Utahn, Elizabeth DeLong, and opened Jan. 6, 2020. 

Elizabeth “Libbie” DeLong was the first Deaf student from Utah to enter 

Gallaudet College in 1897 and the first Deaf female from Utah to graduate college with a bachelor’s degree in 1902. She went on to become the first Deaf teacher with a degree to teach at the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind and eventually the first Deaf woman to become association president of the National Association of the Deaf state chapter in the entire nation among many other accomplishments. 

A longer biography of Elizabeth DeLong can be found on deafhistory.com. For more information on programs and events at all the USDB campuses around the state follow USDB on social media and on their website usdb.org.