Robert G. Clark, chief executive officer of Clayco Construction Co., is asked to join a lot of boards. When he was invited to consider Central Institute for the Deaf, he toured the school where his wife had been a student. “After I was here a couple of hours, I was hooked,” he says. That was five years ago.
Today, Clark is president of the board of managers at CID, one of only four private schools in the U.S. that teaches deaf children ages birth to 15 to talk. The board has been made up of managers—not directors—since the school was founded in 1914. “That’s a true definition of what the board is here. It plays a management role,” Clark says. “I serve on other boards that are more directed at fundraising and/or oversight. But the board of managers here roll their sleeves up and really get involved. And I think that’s extraordinary.”
Clark says at his first CID board meeting, he just sat and listened. “I was amazed at how active and interactive the board was. They weren’t sitting and listening to a report. Almost everyone participated in the conversation.” That was the second thing that convinced him to get involved at CID. “The first was the kids,” he says.
Dr. Donald W. Nielsen, CID’s executive director, explains new board members are recruited primarily by current board members. “The nominees meet with the board and with our leadership team, then they’re given the ‘transformational tour’ Bob experienced,” he says. “Most of the people who go through it do end up joining.” Board members serve a three-year term.
Currently there are 53 managers on the board, which generally numbers 50 to 60. Nielsen says this large board reflects the large number of people in the community who are interested in CID. “All the board members truly feel honored to serve,” he says. “It gives us a diverse group of resources to tap into.”
The board of managers gets involved in all four aspects of CID: the award-winning school, groundbreaking research, graduate studies as the financially independent Department of Speech and Hearing of Washington University, and clinical hearing services. “What makes us unique is having these four divisions,” Clark says. “What gives us our strength and puts us ahead of everybody else is the synergy we get from the four divisions working together.”
In the near future, all the divisions will be working together—literally—in a new facility, the result of the board of managers’ $30 million capital campaign, which began in 1997. Clark and John Weil are the campaign’s co-chairpersons, and Sen. Thomas Eagleton is honorary chairperson.
The goal of the campaign, which had raised $23.6 million as of late September, is to renovate the campus, which includes buildings dating from 1916 to 1961. Phase one, a new school building, will be completed over the holidays and open on Jan. 10. Phase two is a new research building, which is under construction. In phase three, existing buildings will be renovated to house the clinic, professional education and additional research facilities. The building on the south side of U.S.40/I-64 at Kingshighway will be sold.
In addition to the ongoing capital campaign, fundraising for CID programs includes the board’s annual Ultimate Picnic, which is held under large tents on the school’s parking lot. “The event has three main goals,” Clark says. “First, it’s a great party. Next, it’s an opportunity for board members to introduce CID to friends and acquaintances. The third function is to raise money.” In the past five years, the picnic has raised more than $313,000 for CID programs. Students participate by making centerpieces and decorations, and they perform a short song or skit.
Perhaps the most well-known, but certainly not the only accomplished alumna of the moment is Heather Whitestone, Miss America 1995. She attended CID between the ages of 11 and 14, graduating in 1987. “Besides the fact that she’s a great symbol of success for outsiders viewing CID, she’s a great symbol of success for the kids,” Nielsen says. “The most important thing Heather Whitestone did was give us the opportunity to tell people, ‘She’s not unusual.’” He explains, all CID graduates go on to finish high school, about 80 percent go to college and several attend graduate school.
Whitestone visited CID recently. “She’s like a teen idol to the children,” Nielsen says. “She did ballet as her talent in the Miss America pageant, and you should have seen the little girls dancing down the halls!”
Aside from being known for its famous Miss America, CID is clearly on its way to worldwide fame. The institute has twice been cited for excellence by the U.S. Department of Education, and CID curricula and tests are used in all 50 states and more than 30 foreign countries. In addition, U.S. News & World Report recently ranked CID’s master’s degree program in audiology among the top 10 in the nation.
“The place has such an amazing history, and not just a local influence but international as well,” Clark says. “When you see the kids and the results that can happen here, it’s a miracle.”
