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Embracing Katzenbach's past New museum greets alumni

Times of Trenton - Tuesday, August 08, 2006

BY NICOLE CASTELLI

EWING -- More than 600 alumni of the Katzenbach School for the Deaf and their families gathered during the weekend to catch up on old times and celebrate the opening of a museum housing commemorative historical items documenting the history of the school. Natalie Beckman, president of the Katzenbach alumni association, said it took about two years to collect donations for the museum and to plan this year's reunion, the school's first since 1993

Beckman, who graduated from Katzenbach in 1976, said the association got the idea for the museum after seeing similar ones at other schools. The museum documents the school's history going back to when it opened in 1833 as the State Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. She said it will be "a good place to show outside people" what the school, which offers a residential learning experience for deaf students ages 5 to 21, is all about. The two-day reunion also gave alumni and their families a chance to see what's new with each other and the school. It included alumni from as far back as the class of 1936, and from as far away as Arizona and Colorado, Beckman said. It wrapped up Saturday with a banquet at Angeloni's Cedar Gardens in Hamilton.

The new museum houses sports memorabilia and other artifacts that both alumni and the school itself donated, Beckman said. She said now that people have seen what the museum is all about, "we're going to be getting a lot more (donations) coming in."

"It sent chills up and down people's spines," recalls Beckman of her schoolmates' reaction to the museum. "It was thrilling." While Beckman said she hopes to eventually make the reunion an annual event, the next one is scheduled for 2008.

Katzenbach holds second largest alumni reunion

Trentonian - Sunday, 08/06/2006

By JOE D’AQUILA , Staff Writer

EWING -- Hundreds of alumni gathered at the Marie H. Katzenbach School for the Deaf yesterday morning, to look back on old times and to welcome some new changes.

Those in attendance represented the past several decades of the school’s classes, with graduates from as far back as 1930 at the event.

"This will be quite the occasion since many of our graduates live all over the country and haven’t seen each other since they graduated," said Natalie Beckman, president of the alumni association, before the event.

"We’re excited about what our alumni will see when they get here."  For many of the alumni it was the first time seeing some of the advancements the school has made in recent years.

The school now has a state-of-the-art distance learning laboratory for enrollees to interact with other students, and yesterday’s visitors learned of a new technology center coming this fall.

But the main event yesterday was the school’s newest edition geared to looking back at the past, as the New Jersey School for the Deaf museum was dedicated with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

The new museum houses some of the artifacts collected over the long history of the school.

Founded in 1883 as the New Jersey School for the Deaf, the institution changed names in 1965 to honor Marie Katzenbach, a long time member of the State Board of Education.

A focal point for the museum’s collection is an homage to the success of the school’s sports steams over the years.

Particularly notable among the teams was the football squad from 1930, who not only went undefeated, but also kept all of their opponents from scoring for the entire season.

A similar unblemished record was posted by the school in 1932, when the team only allowed one touchdown all year.

Dennis Munn, chairman of the school’s museum committee, said the collection came together after a lot of hard work from a big group of people.

"I’m very lucky to have had a good committee to work with, together as a team," Munn said. "They’re really a wonderful committee to work with."

Munn also thanked the school’s superintendent Dennis Russell for working with the committee on the museum, and said he expected as many as 800 visitors yesterday.

And as visitors piled in and filed past, Munn said the reaction to the exhibits showed they had hit the mark in creating the museum.

"They get goose bumps seeing everything," Munn said of the visiting alumni. "They remember all these things from far back like flashbacks, and they enjoy remembering the old times."

©The Trentonian 2006