Tracey Block
​Executive Director

Tracey is excited to join the Deaf Children’s Society family. Her ties to BC’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities are strong, having worked for BC Deaf Sports Federation, Vancouver Community College’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing Department, and as a Registered Sign Language Interpreter and tutor for the past 25 years.
Most recently, Tracey was the Executive Director at the Asante Centre (FASD Society for BC), and she is eager to bring her style of collaboration, team building, advocacy, and communication to DCS.
Recognizing that earlier is better, Tracey is a strong supporter of early language exposure and she is honoured to be helping to support the next generation of BC’s leaders—our young, Deaf and Hard of Hearing children just beginning their educational journeys. 
Tracey has lived across Canada and began her career in journalism at the Vancouver Sun newspaper. In her spare time, she continues to work as a freelance writer and editor and is completing her master’s degree in Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership at Carleton University.

kristina jokan
Office ManAger

Kristina comes to DCS with many years of experience in office management, human resources and administration. She brings a keen eye for efficiency and a passion for trying new things. Kristina started her professional career in International Sales and Marketing both in Europe and Canada working with various companies worldwide. Over the years she transitioned into office management roles, and desiring a work environment that took her away from the profit orientated environments was very excited to join a non profit organization like DCS. 
 
She is passionate about the environment and animal causes and her favorite past times are hiking and taking road trips, exploring places near and far.

Speech-Language Professionals

Ingrid Schum

Ingrid has been working as a Speech-Language Pathologist at Deaf Children's Society since1999. She began learning American Sign Language (ASL) as a high school student, when she began babysitting for a family with a Deaf child. Ingrid’s interest in working with Deaf children continued from that moment. She completed a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Linguistics at the University of Victoria, where she wrote an Honours thesis about the role of language in Deaf Education. She continued with a Masters of Science in Audiology and Speech Sciences at the University of British Columbia, where her graduating thesis was about the language skills of children with cochlear implants. Ingrid has travelled to conferences and workshops across North America, while working at DCS to continue her education and learn new skills and information. She lives with her husband and two children in Port Moody, where she enjoys reading, hiking and yoga.

Mike fenner

Mike is a Speech-Language Pathologist who enthusiastically comes to play at work.  Mike comes to the Deaf Children’s Society of British Columbia with a background of using creative means to explore language verbally and nonverbally. Mike has graduated the acting program at the Vancouver Film School and the public relations program at Langara College. He holds a degree in psychology from the University of British Columbia with a minor in linguistics and a Master's of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Alberta. Mike's clinical experience includes treating adults in the stroke unit at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital, teenagers with Autism Spectrum Disorder at Chatham Speech Services, kindergarteners with cognitive and language delays at Edmonton Public School District and preschoolers with various needs at Corbett Clinic at the University of Alberta. DCS is a beautiful fit for Mike as he is passionate to work on the development of second languages through the foundation of a strong first language. At DCS, ASL is often the first language in which the communication skills necessary to be dynamically successful in life's endeavours are laid.
 

TEACHER OF THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING

Lisa Meneian

Over twenty-five years ago, Lisa began her journey into the world of Education for Deaf and Hard of Hearing children.  What began as a curiosity for American Sign Language quickly became a life long passion for the people, language, culture, development and learning processes involved in raising and educating our children. 
Since that time, her enthusiasm and deep-rooted commitment to the field of education and child development have afforded her the opportunity to be involved in the lives of growing young children from a variety of backgrounds and facing a multitude of challenges.  In her capacity as Itinerant Teacher of the Deaf around the Province of BC and Administrator of a Provincial Outreach Program and BC School for the Deaf, she has supported children, families, and educational teams across the province from large urban centers to rural and remote one room school-houses. 
Lisa holds a Masters Degree in Educational Psychology and Special Education/Deaf Education from the University of British Columbia. She has travelled across North America and Europe participating in Educational Conferences for the Deaf.  When she is not focusing on her work, she enjoys hiking, cycling, skiing, gardening, dancing, cooking and spending quality time with her two teenage children and family.

SIGN LANGUAGE Instructors

Dellalee piper

Sul noor

Dellalee is  proud to be called the big “D” Deaf .  She grew up having a big family. Dellalee grew up with her adoptive sisters, foster kids and special needs children . She taught her siblings ASL growing up.  Dellalee is proud and honored that her sister is a Registered Sign Language Interpreter . She is the reason Dellalee was motivated to become an ASL instructor.
Dellalee has more than 35 years experience teaching ASL with infants to adults,  in places such as in Whistler, BC , Kootenay-Columbia School District and Central Okanagan School district as a second language instructor for many years. She has also taught at Colleges and Universities. 
During her leisure time, Dellalee loves spending time on the water.  She has been rowing with a Dragon Boat Team for the past five years.  Dellalee also loves signing stories to children.  Her dream is to develop more children's stories and songs in ASL for families to enjoy. 

Sul is no stranger to the Deaf community. He attended the DCS preschool, elementary school, and high school. Growing up, he had a lot of Deaf role models. As soon as he graduated from high school, he volunteered at the elementary school he once attended in the hope to search for his passion. Each day, he worked with a variety of Deaf children, he soon knew what he wanted to do with his life. During his study of Social Worker and Classroom Support in college, he has worked with Deaf children in the Summer camp, residential housing, and classroom. Soon enough, he found himself working at the Deaf Children's Society of BC. He's teaching the beauty of Sign Language to children, families, and groups. He hopes to continue advocating for Sign Language everywhere. As a hobby, Sul is a passionate sports fan. He loves the Seattle Seahawks and would never miss a game of football. He also loves reading books, comics, and film scripts.

Zoe Tarchuk

Zoe is a child of two deaf adults and growing up she was naturally involved with the deaf community. She had always felt a pull towards teaching and nurturing children, which led to her receiving her Early Childhood Education certifications. To her, nothing feels more rewarding than watching the children in her care flourish developmentally, not only physically but socially as well, such as their confidence, personality and personal relationship skills. She was given an opportunity to work here with Deaf Children's Society and felt that it was a great match for her, so she had to take it! She feels very fortunate to be able to work in a setting where she can embrace both her love of teaching children and the deaf/CODA culture she grew up in. In her spare time she enjoys shopping, spending time with her friends and family, drawing and going out to eat. ​

jordyn mitchell

Jordyn first began with DCS as a volunteer and now is an Early Childhood Educator Assistant on our team. She has always enjoyed working with children, and has previously held many roles doing so, such as a cheerleading coach, nanny and even support worker. Jordyn was working as a manager at McDonald's when she was introduced to Deaf customers. After learning a few signs from these helpful customers, one suggested that she should take ASL classes at Vancouver Community College. She had a different career path in mind, but she began ASL night classes anyway. During this program, she learned so much about the Deaf community and met so many wonderful people, she decided to change her profession. Switching her focus, she later graduated from VCC with a certificate in ASL and Deaf Studies. She is now an Early Childhood Assistant, receiving her certificate from Pacific Rim Early Childhood Institute. She has plans of pursuing her full Early Childhood Educator diploma in the near future. Jordyn now has a Deaf partner and ASL is the primary language in her home. She enjoys watching the children at DCS flourish in the language rich environment that the preschool provides.

Preschool Early childhood educators

Jazmine talosig

shannon la rose

Jazmine Kaye first joined The Deaf Children's Society as a volunteer in 2020. She enjoyed volunteering so much that she decided to stay at DCS and work as a Deaf Mentor. She now has her Early Childhood Education Assistant certificate and loves playing with the children and supporting their learning every day. She thoroughly enjoys working at DCS and seeing the kids grow and learn. Jazmine plans to continue her education and procure her ECE Diploma. In high school, Jazmine was a part of the Canadian Deaf youth basketball team where she met many Deaf friends. This experience inspired Jazmine to get involved in teaching the next generation. In her spare time, she enjoys playing sports, traveling and learning about the many different cultures around the world. She loves animals, hiking and hanging out with her friends and family.
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Shannon La Rose joined the Deaf Children’s Society team in July of 2021, after graduating with a certificate in ASL & Deaf Studies from Vancouver Community College. She began working as a support worker within the preschool during the summer play group in 2021, shortly after graduation. Shannon went on to graduate the Early Childhood Education Assistant program from Pacific Rim Early Childhood Institute. She now works full time in the preschool as both 1 on 1 support and general support for the class. Shannon loves working within the DCS team and learning every day from both her coworkers and the students. She is passionate about finding new and creative ways to best support the students and encourage them all on their individual learning paths. She finds great joys being a part of the students daily explorations, achievements and development. In the future, Shannon hopes to return to school to further her education in the areas of support work & child development. 

deaf mentors and student interns

Maria Boloseno

Nina Ward 

Maria started to work at DCS over a year ago as a Deaf Mentor. She loves to work and play with children. Maria attended mainstream elementary school but later transferred to South Slope Elementary where she mastered American Sign Language. She loves that she can communicate with friends who are also deaf, and be a part of the Deaf Community. Her goal is to become an Early Childhood Educator assistant and eventually a teacher. 

Nina was born in Nottingham, England and moved with her family to Edmonton, Alberta when she was 6 years old. Since 2010 she has been living in West Vancouver. Nina attended hearing elementary schools both in England and Canada and switched later to BC Provincial School for the Deaf. She graduated from Burnaby South Secondary School in 2019, and attended Vancouver Community College from  2019-2022. Nina's previous work experiences as a babysitter of deaf children and leader staff at Deaf Youth Today led her to the opportunity to join Deaf Children's Society as Deaf Mentor. She plans to take the Early Childhood Education Assistant course online, and follow to a full ECE diploma at Capilano University.  In her spare time Nina likes playing online games like Animal Crossing, hike with friends and learning new things.