SEIPKE-BROWN: HELENE STANKUS

Helene Stankus: Leading by Example

Erin Seipke-Brown

Division of Deaf Studies and Professional Studies, Western Oregon University 

INT 670 Leadership Roles in the Field of Interpreting

Dr. Elisa Maroney

August 18, 2022

SEIPKE-BROWN: HELENE STANKUS

Abstract

Helene Stankus does not consider herself a leader, yet throughout her career, she has unwittingly

exemplified leadership across all aspects of her practice. She has spent the past three decades

embodying the traits of growth mindset, perseverance, and teamwork within her education and

her practice. She has cultivated a reputation of integrity and high standards that are well regarded

among students and colleagues alike. Helene is leading by example, personifying professional

practice within the field of interpreting.

SEIPKE-BROWN: HELENE STANKUS

Helene Stankus: Leading by Example

One of the most important actions, things a leader can do, is to lead by example. If you

want everyone else to be passionate, committed, dedicated, and motivated, you go first!

—Marshall Goldsmith, Great Leaders Stand Out when Times are Hard

Background

Unlike many interpreters entering the field when she did, Helene is not a CODA (child of

deaf adults) and does not have any Deaf or hard of hearing family members. Instead, she pursued

a spark of interest in learning American Sign Language (ASL). Helene stepped into the Deaf

world by asking if the local community college offered any ASL classes. A friend of hers

happened to work in the administrative office at Macomb Community College. When asked

about the availability of classes, her friend excitedly told her the college would be starting a new

sign language class that fall, and that Helene would be the first registrant. Helene did not want to

take the class by herself, so she recruited a friend to take the class with her. “You have to do this

for me. We can learn sign language in eight weeks!” she recalled saying to her neighbor,

chuckling at the memory (H. Stankus, personal communication, August 4, 2022). Thirty years

and multiple certifications later, Helene Stankus is still learning and growing.

Setting Goals

When Helene enrolled in her first ASL class in 1988, she was already married and had a

six-year-old son at home. She completed that initial eight-week class and discovered that you

cannot learn sign language in eight weeks. When that initial class was over, she did not stop; she

went on to complete all the remaining sign language classes offered through adult education,

until one of her teachers, who was Deaf, took her aside and encouraged her to enroll in an

interpreter training program (ITP).

SEIPKE-BROWN: HELENE STANKUS

Helene had her choice of three ITPs – a two-year program at Lansing Community

College, a two-year program at Mott Community College, and a four-year program at Madonna

College (now, Madonna University). After attending Madonna for a year, and feeling that she

was not progressing well enough, she looked to transfer to another program. She sought advice

from a friend of hers who was enrolled in the program at Mott. This friend encouraged her to

contact the Mott interpreter training program head to discuss the program and transferring. She

was told she would need to complete a placement interview, which was required by the ITP for

skills evaluation and course placement before she could register for classes. She was

immediately placed in an advanced level sign language class with a Deaf teacher.

As her classes progressed, and became more difficult, Helene’s teachers continued to

push and encourage her. From the beginning, she recognized the seriousness of the training, and

questioned how far she thought she could go. With the unwavering support of her husband Mark,

she spent four years driving over an hour to the college, three times a week. To supplement her

income and offset the cost of tuition, she worked as a lunch lady at her son’s school. She would

not allow herself to try and answer how far she could go; instead, she set short-term goals for

herself. She would focus on completing one semester at a time, push herself to just keep going,

and continue to show up until she finished. This focus and determination culminated, first, in an

interpreting degree, then a degree in deaf studies, in 1992.

Showing Up

This early demonstration of perseverance would become a hallmark of Helene’s practice,

reappearing regularly throughout her career. Her interpreter education occurred between 1988

and 1992, straddling the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990). In the two years

of her training before the ADA was signed, there was no legal requirement of providing
SEIPKE-BROWN: HELENE STANKUS

communication access. In the two years after the signing, the legislation was still new and had

yet to have widespread impact. This meant opportunities for interpreting students, like Helene, to

observe certified interpreters were quite limited. Those interpreters who were willing to have

student observers accompany them to assignments offered few opportunities and those

opportunities did not easily fit ITP students’ schedules. Where others may have decided the

effort was too difficult, Helene kept showing up. Describing the tribulations of trying to schedule

observations, Helene says she had to “beg, steal, jump through hoops, and beg people to be able

to go and observe them.” This required her to make time for herself away from her family and

arrange childcare for her young son.

In the early days of Helene’s career, interpreters in Michigan could work without

certification. Though she says she never thought she had it in her, Helene identified her next set

of milestones and set her sights on testing and certification. After sitting for the Michigan

Quality Assurance test for the first time, she received a rating of QA I. Once again demonstrating

perseverance, she worked on developing her skills and registered to retake the test. This time, she

received a rating of QA II. Continuing to show up and further develop her skills, she registered

to retake the test yet again. This time she received a rating of QA III, which was the highest

attainable score.

For many interpreters, a QA III was a pinnacle achievement. Helene, however, having

achieved this milestone, looked toward the next one – national certification. In 2003, Helene

embarked on her mission to become nationally certified through the Registry of Interpreters for

the Deaf (RID). The difficulty in attaining this certification was compounded by the limited

number of national testing sites around the country. At that time, this barrier to access, and a lack

of requirements for interpreters to become certified to practice, left many Michigan interpreters
SEIPKE-BROWN: HELENE STANKUS

making the choice to not test beyond the state-level QA, if they chose to test at all. Helene’s

determination to become certified was a testament of her commitment to the field, the value she

placed on skills development, and her desire to be one of the elite professionals who held

certification. No longer a stranger to facing challenges head on, Helene decided, once again, she

would keep showing up.

There were no RID testing locations in Michigan, so Helene flew to Chicago to take her

written knowledge exam. The testing process required her to pass the written exam before she

could register to take a performance exam. Once she received her passing results, she began

making the arrangements to take both the interpreting and transliterating performance exams.

She took two weeks off work so she could fly down to Shreveport, Louisiana. There, she joined

17 other test candidates from locations all over the United States for two intensive, week-long

test preparation classes.

During the first week, she sat in a classroom from eight o’clock in the morning until six

o’clock in the evening, having her transliterating skills evaluated, critiqued, and criticized. Every

day she felt broken, and every evening she cried, but she persevered, and kept showing up. At

the end of the week, she sat for her transliteration test. When it was over, she mentally prepared

to do it again the next week, focusing on her interpreting skills. She flew back to Michigan and

waited a full eleven months to receive her test results. Helene cried when she learned she passed

both tests and had accomplished yet another milestone; she considers this to be her greatest

accomplishment as an interpreter.

Helene was working as a full-time educational interpreter in 2006. Her boss was aware of

impending changes to state law regarding interpreter certification and qualifications. The team of

school district interpreters would need to meet the stricter qualification standards that would be
SEIPKE-BROWN: HELENE STANKUS

established the following year. The rules would require educational interpreters to have an

Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA) score of 3.5 to continue working, which

would later be raised to a 4.0. While some interpreters balked at the new requirement, Helene

took a deep breath and asked what she needed to do. As before, she committed to showing up,

and achieved the score she needed.

We, Not Me

Another hallmark of Helene’s leadership is a “we” mindset, which has been present since

the first days of asking her friend to take an eight-week sign language class with her. In 1998,

another local leader had an idea to host meetings that would be part community gathering, part

mentoring, and part interpreting practice. These meetings became the Interpreter Improvement

Guild, called the IIG within the community. The IIG would host Friday night social gatherings

for interpreters, students, and the Deaf community, offer interpreting practice and mentoring for

student interpreters, and present workshops. The guild endeavored to help fill the gap in

interpreter education and needed skilled interpreter leaders to make these events happen. Helene

was asked to be a part of the guild, as a leader. Leading others was not a position she sought but

a call that she answered.

While working as an educational interpreter, she was frequently asked to mentor student

interpreters, allowing them to complete practicum hours with her or observe her work. Helene’s

personal struggle to find certified interpreters to observe during her own interpreter training

years earlier was always in the back of her mind. In this way, she could answer the call of

leadership and embody the values of her practice.

As a video relay interpreter, unmet needs in the call center where she worked became

leadership opportunities. Helene came to recognize that she had the knowledge and skills
SEIPKE-BROWN: HELENE STANKUS

necessary to meet those needs. She also came to realize that others felt comfortable approaching

her for support and came to depend on her. Once again, answering the call of leadership, she

accepted the opportunity to support others.

Even in times of interpersonal conflict, Helene maintains a “we” mindset. Knowing the

negative impact unresolved conflict can cause, though she does not care for it, she chooses to

confront it. Her approach to doing so, however, is with a focus on “we” and partnering with her

colleague to reach a resolution that works for each of them.

Being an Example

Helene holds high expectations – for herself, for her colleagues, and for those she

mentors. She expects passion, commitment, dedication, and motivation. Anyone who works with

her, however, will quickly see that she does not expect any more from them than what she,

herself, is willing to give first. She leads by example, inspiring others to share her passion,

commit to showing up, dedicate themselves to the field and the Deaf community, and motivate

others to do the same.

About the Author

Erin Seipke-Brown, NIC, Ed:K-12, BEI Advanced

Erin is an educational interpreter in the Metro Detroit area. She is currently a Lead Interpreter in

a center program servicing Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. In 2001, she received her

Bachelor of Arts in Sign Language Studies with a concentration in interpreting from Madonna

University. She is pursuing a Master of Arts in Interpreting Studies from Western Oregon

University.

Acknowledgment
SEIPKE-BROWN: HELENE STANKUS

I am so grateful to Helene for the years of mentoring, collegiality, and friendship she has

extended to me. Her integrity, professionalism, words of wisdom, honesty, and support have

been the values on which I have founded my own practice, and the examples of leadership that

have helped me shape my leadership philosophy. Her encouragement has been a firm, but gentle,

push helping me continue to show up.

References

Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-336, 104 Stat. 328 (1990).