ROSHOLT, Wis. (WSAW) - Adults who are deaf or hard of hearing are enjoying their week-long camp in Rosholt. The Wisconsin Lions Club puts on free summer camps every year for adults who are blind or visually impaired, people with intellectual disabilities or autism, diabetes and more.
This is the last camp of the season for the club.
There are 70 deaf campers who have been going on ropes courses and a 45-acre lake. Campers say they do not want to go home.
"I was so excited to get here to camp because I love meeting new people, so I couldn't sleep," says Huong Nguyen-Larson, whose interpreter is Sara Kay Gengler.
Nguyen-Larson is a deaf camper who's been coming to the camp for about five years, but she hasn't always been deaf.
"I was born hearing and then around age four, my mom is yelling. She told us to come and eat and that's when she had a suspicion that I was deaf," she said.
Shortly after that, her family, who lived in Vietnam, became refugees. At around 10 years old, when she lived in Green Bay, she started learning sign language and English.
"It took me about six months, but I was at a fourth-grade reading level. And then I picked it up a lot faster after that. But those beginning times were a little tough for me," says Nguyen-Larson.
Now, she is a deaf mentor at Northcentral Technical College (NTC) in Wausau, who loves to have fun at camp.
"My friend and I were looking for different dress-up clothes and we found these masks," Nguyen-Larson said. "So at night we were going to the windows and we were knocking on the windows and we were scaring people."
Nguyen-Larson says besides creeping around in the night with her friends, she's here for community.
"I just love getting around and hanging out with my deaf friends and meeting new people, going on hikes, swimming, and just seeing new faces," says Nguyen-Larson. "This is a really rich experience to have a whole week to be together. Life is too short to not get together and hang out with your friends."
When it isn't summertime, the Lions Club rents out the 440-acre camp to other groups.