When Avery Weaver walked into Tim Kitterman’s American Sign Language (ASL) class as a freshman at MacArthur High School, she had no idea it was about to change her life.
She quickly discovered a passion for ASL as a bridge between people and communities.
“When I joined ASL, I had no idea what I wanted to do,” said Avery. “But I just fell in love with the language and decided to stick with it.”
Avery graduated from MacArthur in 2023. Her love for serving others led her to pursue a major in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology at the University of North Texas (UNT). She one day hopes to combine her passions for ASL and music, which she embraced as a member of the MacArthur choir.
That’s the power of a good teacher like Tim Kitterman. What you might think of as a simple elective can turn into a launch pad to the career you never imagined for yourself.
Avery recognizes Kitterman’s commitment to his students, and she’s thankful for it. He’s the one who first suggested she pursue speech pathology.
“He cares about what he teaches, and he cares about his students,” said Avery. “If you put the effort in, he’ll put the effort back into you. He saw that I wanted to do well and succeed, so he was willing to put in the same amount of work that I was.”
The hard work paid off and it came with a major advantage. Avery took an ASL placement test at UNT and was just four points away from surpassing the fourth level and testing out of ASL courses completely.
While she has moved on to college, Avery has not forgotten where she got her start. She recently returned to Kitterman’s ASL class to share her recent experience volunteering at a summer camp for deaf children and adults in the Bahamas.
ASL is one of many options offered through our World Languages pathway.
