New Teacher imparts knowledge in a unique way

Alyssa Bucholz teaches a language like no one else at Penn does. That’s because American Sign Language is the language she uses in her daily life.

Bucholz has been deaf her entire life and grew up using ASL. “ASL is my native language, so I feel it is very important to teach others about my language and culture,” she said via PHS interpreter Julie Andrews.

This is by no means Bucholz’s first time teaching ASL. “I’ve worked a lot with little kids, but this is my first experience teaching high school students. Before, I taught at college level.” she said.

Now, as you can imagine, there are some disadvantages to being a deaf teacher in a hearing school, but probably not what you think. She explained that her issues in past schools “have been with the system. They don’t always inform me about everything, but here they are doing pretty well working with me.”

Overall, she has been enjoying her introduction to Penn High School. “It’s such a big school, it’s bigger than I’m used to, but it’s great. There’s a lot going on and I really like that.”