Berkeley County School District, South Carolina Featured Videos, 10 May 2022

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From YouTube: Student Spotlight: Will Hamlin is 'inspiring'

Description

Not many students will face the obstacles Will Hamlin has overcome. Those around him say his perseverance makes him an inspiration to everyone.

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He had ideas right off the bat. you can make it go really fast and have fun with it.

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I find that I am constantly surprised and constantly impressed.

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Some cups and maybe some bowls.

B

one, two, ready, and...

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I couldn't ask for more. I'm blessed to have him in the classroom.

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The personality of you comes through the instrument.

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It can almost describe a story to you if you listen to it.

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So whatever you are feeling,, whatever your personality is.

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It comes through and we hear it.

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the music is so amazing, like it can help others!.

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My goal is to lead them to play from the heart.

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it [trumpet] is easy to carry,. It is easy to play notes.

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But some other things are really hard..

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He was a little apprehensive at first.

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But as soon as he got his hands on a ball of clay.,.

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He immediately started to have ideas and he would even feel the clay.

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And say: "this doesn't look, right." "this doesn't look right"., meaning it doesn't feel right.

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My vision like I can barely see anything.

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Anybody who has ever worked on a pottery wheel will tell you this.

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The hardest part is getting the clay centered on the wheel.

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If it is not centered on the wheel- and you turn it on, it is going to fly off.

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Like if you center it, you have to remember that point.

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And if you forget, you have to re-do it.

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The first step is to get it centered, but he can't see where the center is.

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I'll just center it for him and then he can learn the rest.

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Well, one day, I walked back into the room where the wheel is.

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And he had it centered and he was working with it and I said, "will. How did you do that?" and he was like, "oh? It's pretty easy, actually.".

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I just realized: why can't I just put my hands on the side of the wheel.

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So that I can keep my hands still so I can know if it's centered.

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Because, since I cannot see, I can feel it.

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he's got a very well thought out plan as to how he walks his fingers.

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To the center of the wheel before he makes the decision to center it.

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The clay will move my thumb, you know, depending how far from the center, it will move, left, right or back and front.

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I've never worked with a blind student before.

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Art and blindness. How do I make this relatable to him?.

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But with the pottery he can go back and feel something that he did two weeks ago.

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And he can feel this progression of him, improving its like his own portfolio.

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(Will playing the trumpet).

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Very talented, player. he's a great asset to our program.

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As long as I can play it on the instrument, I will be able to remember it.

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What he likes is for me to play it on an instrument and then record it.

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My teacher will send me the email with the recording on it.

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So that I can listen to it and practice on my trumpet.

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And he is able to learn it at his own will.

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I'm so amazed because some things that he doesn't have learned.

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I can play it in class and he catches it almost immediately.

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Will that's going to go e, e,, f,, d,, e.

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He's able to play a c when I say "I need this c".

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There it is! he knows exactly where it should go, whatever one. I am asking for...

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That's amazing.

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It doesn't matter what instrument as long as I can play it. I will memorize it always.

B

With marching band,, he did march with us.

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So the students were great with leading him.

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One of my friends: she is really smart and she thought about.

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Since I'm really good at hearing, so she and other friends.

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Has a jingle bell bracelet on their wrist.

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She would jingle her wrist and he would be able to hear that.

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And go in the direction that he should go following her.

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So it's kind of like a compass thing.

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So when I hear the jingle bells I know where I am at.

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How do you hear a bell through all of that cacophony.

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Of not just the band playing, but people are talking.

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And he could just hear a little jingle bell?!

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That's amazing. he's able to hear it,. I think he's just that much more alert.

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Cause he can hear everything. he hears everything.

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He's overcome so much.

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I come from a city called guyong and I think that's in the middle part of china.

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He was adopted as a teenager.

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I was supposed to age out at fourteen, so you can either choose to go out into the world on your own.

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Or go back to the orphanage. moved to a completely different culture.

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A new family, a big family and he fits right in..

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He did not speak english at all.

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(Laughs), it's hard,. It is really really hard.

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absolutely inspiring because he could have easily decided.

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I can't see so this isn't for me, but he didn't.

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It almost feels like play-doe, but it's better.

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He is an amazing teacher as to what a positive attitude can do for you.

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I really just want to say that visual impaired.

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Or you know you have any problem with your body or what.

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It's nothing, you can't achieve what you want.

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There is definitely a way you can achieve your goals.

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Just don't give up., you never know when you're actually going to achieve it.