Meet the Board
Phone: (360) 402-0162 (Text)
Email: maria.christianson@cdhl.wa.gov
Maria is a Washington native and WSD alumni. She currently works as the Executive Director at the Salish Sea Deaf School in Burlington since 2016. She started the Deaf Education field as a para-educator in 1994-95 then went on to getting her Bachelor of Science in K-12 Special Education at Western Washington University in 2000 and a Master of Science in Deaf Education in 2003 at Western Oregon University. She worked as an Itinerant Teacher of the Deaf in 2003 – 2010 and as an adjunct instructor for the Adult Basic Education program at Whatcom Community College 2009-2010. Maria was involved as a Facilitator and Camp Director for the Deaf Teen Leadership camp from 2008-2017.
Her passion is to provide opportunities above and beyond for our young DHH children to become independent adults in our community. They are our future!
Maria and her husband, James “Dino”, have two girls and one dog, Faith. Maria enjoys playing with Faith, traveling with family, and exploring the nature.
Phone: (360) 910-0338
Email: nancy.sinkovitz@cdhl.wa.gov
Nancy is retired after working in the WSD residential program for nearly 27 years. Nancy started working as a Student Life Counselor in 1988. Throughout her years at WSD she worked as Dean of Students, Residential Program Supervisor and retired in 2014 as Director of Residential Services.
Nancy is the daughter of Harold and Marjorie Stickel, WSD class of 1941 and WSD residential employees for over 20 years. She is also the sister of Pat Almer who taught at WSD for over 42 years. Her family has strong ties to the school and the Deaf community.
Nancy has two daughters, one hearing and one hard-of-hearing (WSD class of 1992) and 5 grandchildren, three hearing and two hard-of-hearing, all living in the Clark County area. Her hobbies include reading, movies, gardening, cross-stitching, camping and especially spending time with family.
Nancy has always maintained that the years working at WSD were the best years of her life. She is happy to continue supporting CDHY and WSD and hopes her many years of residential program experience will benefit the board, staff and students.
Phone: (509) 539-0962
Email: nita.kamphuis@cdhl.wa.gov
Phone:
(206) 388-1275 (TTY)
(206) 452-7955 (VP/Voice)
Email: ariele.belo@cdhl.wa.gov
Ariele Belo is the Director of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services and Co-Executive Director of Hearing, Speech and Deaf Center (HSDC). She supervised staff within the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services (Advocacy, Case Management, Information & Referral, and Education & Trainings programs) in Seattle, Tacoma, and Bellingham. HSDC serves 13 counties in Western Washington. Ariele works along with other Co-Executive Directors in supporting other programs (Audiology, Speech & Language, Parent-Infant Program, Rosen Preschool, and Interpreting Services) at HSDC.
Ariele is a native of Seattle and an alumna of the Hearing, Speech, and Deaf Center’s Parent-Infant Program (PIP). She had years of experience as an advocate for the deaf and hard of hearing. She is also a Qualified Deaf interpreter for Deaf and DeafBlind.
Since joining HSDC, she has graduated from Project LEAD (Leadership Effectiveness and Diversity), a United Way of King County program “which aims to increase the representation of people of color on nonprofit boards and in other positions of community leadership in King County”.
Ariele enjoys volunteering as her parents have always volunteered while growing up. Ariele is currently a board member of Deaf Spotlight. Deaf Spotlight inspires and showcases Deaf Culture and Sign Languages through arts.
Phone:
(253) 517-1070
(253) 922-0539
(253) 376-0414 (Cell)
Email: nancy.fitta@cdhl.wa.gov
Nancy Kastel Fitta has lived in Pierce County for over 30 years. She is a CODA whose parents both graduated from WSD and later worked for the school for many years. She retired in June 2021 after working as a teacher of the Deaf/HH, freelance interpreter, ASL teacher, program administrator, and special education director in Region 9. She has long supported the school, and the CDHY mission of providing educational services and supports to all Deaf, hard of hearing and Deaf-blind children and youth and their families, regardless of where they live in our state.
Phone:
Email: wesley.henson@cdhl.wa.gov
Wes Henson lives in Tumwater, Washington, and represents District 10. He grew up working on his family’s farm in Yuba City, CA.
In 2000, Wes was commissioned as an Army Signal Officer at Oregon State University with a B.S. in Animal Science and minors in Chemistry and Military History. During his eight years of service, which included one year in Korea and two tours in Iraq, he held positions of increasing responsibility culminating in two years as a Company Commander.
Since 2008, Wes has worked for Nalco Water, an Ecolab Company. He is currently an Area Manager in outside sales, helping to grow and develop his team and work with manufacturing and food plants to improve efficiency and reduce fuel and water use. His goal is to bring the skills that he has developed in a diverse career to help CDHY to provide quality services to families and the Deaf community.
Wes and his wife, Monica, have two children, a hearing son, Seth, and a profoundly hard of hearing daughter, Claire. He enjoys camping, woodturning, and karate with his children.
Board of Trustees Meetings
All meetings will be held on the WSD campus (611 Grand Blvd, Vancouver) unless otherwise noted.