Photo by Deb Gau Marshall student Ben Lingl uses marshmallows and toothpicks to build a structure at one of the activity tables set up at the Redwood Area Community Center during the Building Identity event on Wednesday.

REDWOOD FALLS — The students gathered in the Redwood Area Community Center were having fun making new friends.

But they said one of the best things about it was they all had something in common. The kids — students from schools around southwest Minnesota — all had hearing loss.

“I thought I was the only one, and there’s more,” said Marjorie Ramirez, a sixth grade student from Marshall.

On Wednesday, more than 80 kids in kindergarten through 12th grade got a chance to meet up for Building Identity, an event for students with hearing loss.

“It’s just really a way to increase their self-confidence, to be confident in who they are,” said Jill Rohman, a teacher for deaf and hard of hearing students with Southwest/West Central Service Cooperative.

Students said it made a difference to be able to meet and hang out with students their age who also had hearing loss.

“Meeting new people with the same experiences you have is pretty cool,” said Delaney Krumwiede, a student from Jackson County Central. “And you hear different stories of how they got hearing loss.”

Rohman said students attending the Building Identity event came from across 50 school districts in southwest Minnesota.

“We typically have anywhere from 50 to 100 kids,” Rohman said.

The event was supported by SWWC, area school districts, and local Lions clubs.

Rohman said area educators have helped organize events and field trips for students with hearing loss for many years.

“Every year, we’ve tried to do something,” she said. However, due to outside circumstances there hadn’t been any events for the past few years. “The last one was in 2018.”

Maren Hasse, an eighth grade student from Marshall, remembered going to Building Identity events before the hiatus. It was fun to have the events back, Hasse said.

The best part, she said, was “Probably meeting new people, and getting comfortable.”

Some area students said they were the only people they knew with hearing loss in their classes. Ramirez and fellow Marshall student Ethan Sanow said they could think of two or three — including themselves.

“Some school districts may only have one student,” Rohman said. Helping kids feel less alone was a positive aspect of the Building Identity gatherings.

Rohman said organizers of Wednesday’s event also wanted to encourage students to advocate for themselves.

“We want kids to know they can ask for captioning,” or for other assistance to help them in school and life, she said.

Students at the Building Identity event had different degrees of hearing loss, and used a variety of different assistive devices and tools, teachers said. Some students used sign language, while others wore hearing aids or had cochlear implants.

Besides learning and advocacy, another important part of the Building Identity event was having fun. Students shot hoops in the gymnasium, made crafts, and did building and STEM activities.

Around the room, students were starting up conversations.

“What school do you go to?” one student asked another, as they made a bead craft together. “Have you ever been to Montevideo?”

Getting to go to the Building Identity event was fun, said Levi Engen, a student at Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa Public Schools, and Canby student Paxton Grong.

“You get to make new friends, and all that stuff,” Engen said.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” said Windom student Kendra Steffen.