When she was 12-years-old, Betsy Hoke took her first sign language class, accompanying her mother who had met a deaf woman through her job.

Betsy helped with a deaf ministry in her church from 1977 until 1980, when she left to study education of the Deaf at Penn State University. In 1983 Betsy Hoke graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in education of the Deaf and a Pennsylvania state teacher’s certificate.

Betsy’s pastor at Calvary Bible Church in Hanover, PA knew of the ministry at the Evangelical School for the Deaf (E.S.D) in Puerto Rico and passed a copy of these newsletter on to her. She wrote a letter and was soon talking with her home church and representatives from the school regarding the needs of the school and the way God was leading.

In August 1984, Betsy arrived at E.S.D. as a short-term teacher and left 1989 to continue her education. She graduated with a M.S in Deaf Education from Western Maryland College. Upon graduation in 1991, she returned to Puerto Rico and in 1998, she took the position of Principal/Teacher at E.S.D.

Evangelical School for the Deaf (ESD) became Christian School and Chapel for the Deaf (CSCD) in 2011.