I am doing a petition to get American Sign Language classes at Thompson High School. There are many deaf/hard of hearing/hearing impaired students who go through Thompson. To get the highest diploma you have to have two years of foreign language and these students have not been able to do this because they do not have a foreign language to take. ASL is approved as a language in Alabama and many other states and many colleges accept ASL as a language credit. We are trying to get signatures to show the school people want this as a class option. I myself am deaf and use cochlear implants. I have been talking to the school about this since November. I recently met with the administration to talk about this and they have just started offering Latin and said I could just take that class. The problem with Latin is if you are not planning to go into the medical field then it will not help you much in the future. With ASL it opens up many opportunities and would help people connect with deaf children even more if they could learn this language. Thank you so much for the support we have received so far!