The Impact of Our ASL Classes
For Amanda McFarland, a homeschooled high school junior, taking ASL classes was a life-changinge experience.Her teacher was Nancy Piersma, the D&HHS Community Education Coordinator. In that role, Nancy teaches and tutors, does DEI training, is a Native Deaf Facilitator and much more. In her words: “A little bit of everything.”But, she says, she loves the variety her work gives her, and she loves teaching.That was clear to Amanda.
“I first met Ms. Nancy at Foursquare which is a homeschool co-op that I took classes at,” she says. “One of the things I really loved about Ms. Nancy’s class was that she showed us how to create pictures and stories that people can visually see, and she introduced us to a whole new culture that I hadn’t thought of before. It just amazed and intrigued me to know that there was such a different culture living right around us.”Because of that first class with Nancy, Amanda has continued to study ASL and now is considering going to college to become an interpreter.She adds: “I think ASL and the Deaf community are forgotten all too often, and I would love to see ASL more commonly learned.”
Our spring ASL classes start on March 7. More info here:https://deafhhs.org/asl-classes/