Aarron Loggins
Stafford, Virginia
Senior
Theatre Arts major
"Stepping into the Spotlight"
Aarron Loggins looks like your average Gallaudet student, at least until he starts to dance. Aarron, who is a junior at Gallaudet, grew up in Joliet, Illinois, attending an oral program throughout high school. He was mainstreamed. Even though Aarron is deaf, he has always been interested in dance. He started dancing in a step program in his high school called Unite in Excellence when he was sixteen. There were about twenty dancers, and Aarron was the only deaf dancer among them. He also was on the honor roll throughout high school, and was president of the Multicultural Leadership Coalition his senior year.
The summer before his senior year, he came to visit Gallaudet with his father. His dad lives in Virginia, and wanted Aarron to come to Gallaudet. After visiting, he decided to attend Gallaudet. Aarron says, "I really enjoyed meeting new faces at Gallaudet! I got involved with BDSU (Black Deaf Student Union) and won an award for my community service work within BDSU. I also won the Mr. BDSU pageant."
On October 11th, 2004, Aarron founded Da Jump Back, a step dance group, with four other dancers after being involved with the Gallaudet Dance Company for three years. In two years, Da Jump Back has grown, with 15 members, and they have given several performances on and off campus. He says that his biggest challenge was "getting the group to unite and look beyond color of their skin to personality and intelligence." He is also involved with a hearing step group in Washington DC called Step Afrika. He is the only deaf dancer among ten. They performed at MSSD last year.
In addition to Aarron's dancing involvements, he has been involved as a teacher's assistant for the First Year Seminar program, and was a summer Bridge program staff member. He performed in the Gallaudet production of "Streetcar Named Desire," and in "Sign Me Alice," the spring 2007 play. He's currently a teacher's assistant for the Theatre Arts Department, and will direct his first play, "Trapped in the Closet" this spring. He is also a political hopeful, with aspirations to be the SBG [Student Body Government] president next year. He says that what he loves most about Gallaudet is, "having brothers and sisters come together in unity."
