DuBard School celebrating 50 years

The DuBard School for Language Disorders will host an open house today from 3:30 until 6 p.m. in commemoration of 50 years of service and support. This serves to ensure that students, faculty and the community work together to impact the lives of children while providing hands-on educational experiences for University of Southern Mississippi students that help out at the DuBard School. Refreshments, tours and information about the services that the school offers will be provided.

“We invite the community to share in the celebration with us,” Director of the DuBard School Maureen Martin said. “There will be various displays of different aspects of DuBard work around the building, such as scrapbooks and videos from years ago.”

Martin has been the director of the school since 1989 and has worked with the school since 1975.

“It is a thrilling privilege to have been here over so many years of the school’s growth and development and seeing so many good changes,” Martin said. “Seeing students leave and come back as adults with happy, productive, independent lives going on is so rewarding.”

In addition to speech pathology and audiology majors, students majoring in human performance, recreational science education, social work and music can also learn by volunteering at the school.

“We have Luckyday scholars and others who want to do service projects and choose the school for the site,” Martin said. “We love interacting with the university community and having an opportunity to share what speech language and hearing and learning challenges are all about.”

Founder of the DuBard School, Etoile DuBard, was the first speech correctionist in Mississippi.

“Above all that, she was originally an elementary school teacher, was in the Navy, audiologist and educator to the deaf; she did it all,” Martin said.

DuBard passed away about nine years ago, but her impact has not been forgotten.

“She was far ahead of her time, and many professionals who have worked in the school over the years and many university students have attributed to what the DuBard School has become today while building on her vision,” Martin said.

A remembrance exhibit will open in Cook Library in early November, and pieces from the Etoile DuBard Collection will be shown.

“One of the things we have been working on to a large extent in the last several months is moving her books, papers and early therapy materials, along with personal items, to the libraries so that the treasure of materials can be kept safe,” Martin said.