Marvelous Marvin: A wildcat at heart

*This interview was conducted through the use of an American Sign Language interpreter.*

Of all nine varsity football games this past fall, senior Marvin Colbert hardly missed one. Every Friday night he radiated rowdy enthusiasm in the stands. He jumped around, waved the flag and yelled at the top of his lungs—all without saying a word.

Colbert has been deaf his entire life. He speaks sign language and uses a cochlear implant (a device that attaches magnetically to his head and improves his hearing through stimulation of the cochlear nerve). Contrary to what one might expect, Colbert doesn’t let his inability to verbally communicate with his peers deter him from attending social events.

“Seriously I feel like I do so much here at Northview, and I really want to just meet people,” Colbert said. “It’s so great to interact with all my friends and socialize.”

Supporting the athletic teams is one of his favorite pastimes. Colbert can be found in the front row of most home games regardless of the sport. He says he is fascinated by the abilities of his classmates, and he feels compelled to support them because he understands what being an athlete is all about.

Colbert started wrestling in seventh grade. A desire to form strong friendships drove him to sign up, but he found that he also had a raw love for the sport. However, this didn’t mean that Colbert’s journey was all smooth sailing.

“Learning all the different [wrestling] moves is hard sometimes. I failed a lot, and I made a lot of mistakes,” Colbert said. “I have an interpreter most of the time, but when there’s not an interpreter, it can be tough.”

In the first match of his junior season, Colbert broke his elbow. It was the end of his wrestling career.

Even though Colbert no longer competes, he remains involved in every aspect of the wrestling program. He practices with the varsity squad, assists the coaching staff and alerts the referee when time is up during team matches. 

When he’s away from the mat, Colbert helps out in deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) classrooms at East Oakview Elementary School, and attends biweekly meetings with a group called Deaf Teen Quest (DTQ), a program that promotes faith-based leadership among DHH teens. He especially looks forward to the competitions and games that take place at DTQ get-togethers.

“It’s a really good time where deaf kids can get to get together, talk about Jesus and just have fun and socialize,” Colbert said.

Opportunities like these allow Colbert to learn from the experiences of his deaf and hard of hearing peers. Connecting with them eases the frustration he experiences at times in a world that can be less than accommodating towards the deaf community. Some days these challenges weigh heavy on him.

“Some people look down on me a little bit because they don’t know who I am, or maybe some people look at me and assume that I’m hearing,” Colbert said. “Sometimes I feel frustrated or sad, and I’ve experienced bullying in the past.”

Colbert has gotten pretty good at ignoring negative people, a skill that makes his positive interactions that much better. 

He appreciates when hearing people go out of their way to talk to him. Colbert says that typing on the phone is the most effective way for a person who doesn’t know sign language to hold a conversation with him—although he admits that it would be nice if his classmates learned a little bit of sign. 

Colbert is a patient and understanding person, he has no problem teaching those around him some sign language here and there. 

Should someone run into him at a school dance or a basketball game (because he will certainly be in attendance), he’d be happy to demonstrate his favorite sign to share with others: three fingers shaped in a claw, swiped quickly downward in a diagonal line.

It means “Go Wildcats!”