A Sign by Matthew

A Sign by Matthew - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

I have always been a very awkward and reserve kid for as long as I can remember. Back when I first started college, one course that always caught my eye was sign language. It was a course that really stuck out to me because it wasn't about talking to people, it was about emoting through movement. Talking to people while showing them I can be comfortable with moving a lot interested me so much, that I decided to take the class simply on that merit alone.
I was sitting in the sign language class for the first time at the end of 2014, a freshman in college excited to learn all that I could about moving and being able to speak without using words, when all of a sudden the teacher comes through the door, eccentric and very passionate about one thing; people who were hard of hearing. He was this way through the whole class, constantly calling on people and telling them to come to the front of the room to show the class how much they could learn in sign language. My teacher expected a lot of us kids because we weren't just messing with any old code or language, we were messing with a code or language for a group of people who had lost something near and dear to them. My sign language teacher taught me to come out of my shell and make others laugh with my antics rather than sit back and stay in my shell, he also taught me a new respect for a group of people, the hard of hearing, that I did not have to begin with.
I should not have taken that course for myself, especially without knowing what I was getting into, but I did. My teacher molded me differently though, and I left my sign language class after a few months with a B average. I know use what I know in sign language to help others, and make them smile.