American Sign Language is one of the foreign language options offered at Westerville South, which is not the case in the majority of high schools.  Currently, not every school district in the State of Ohio offers ASL as an option for students to take. Out of 1,093 school districts in the state of Ohio, there are about 270 schools that offer an asl program, Kathy Shelton, World Languages and Cultures Education Program Specialist said. 

“We were one of the first,” said American Sign Language teacher Kelly Modlich, who has been teaching ASL here at South for 23 years. Now all over the state of Ohio, ASL classes are offered in multiple schools and teachers here at South helped create the standards, Modlich explained. 

Each of the three Westerville high schools offers students to take up to 4 years of ASL. After high school, students have the opportunity to take ASL at most colleges and universities. Some students may even decide that they want Sign Language to be involved in their career.

 ASL 3 student Maggie Fenwick is determined to become an ASL interpreter. “I think as a freshman, I decided I wanted to become an interpreter, just because I am so passionate about the language and culture and wish to bridge this gap for deaf and hearing people,” Fenwick said. 

Students who take ASL may find that even if they don’t want to actively pursue it in their career, it still may be helpful. “There’s an untold number of students who just use it in their profession. It could be as a nurse, as a physical therapist, or some other type of non-Deaf-related degree. It’s just good to know,” Modlich said. 

The ASL program at South, also teaches students about an entire culture that isn’t often learned about, the Deaf community.  Senior Chelsea Odoi, commented on how the ASL class has opened up her eyes to an entire community of people.

 “ASL has taught me that different cultures don’t need spoken language to get their message across,” Odoi said. 

Students who are passionate about the language and want to interact more with ASL, have the opportunity to join the ASL club. Which meets biweekly after school in room 1401. 

“For the ASL club this year, I am most excited to go back to the Ohio School for the Deaf and hang out with the deaf preschoolers. We did that my freshman year. Also, I’m very excited to have our Friendsgiving potluck this year,”  ASL senior Maggie Fenwick said.