WEST JORDAN, Utah — Silence dominates one classroom in the Jordan School District, and the teacher leading the class won’t have it any other way.
Rae Boren teaches American Sign Language at Copper Hills High School.
“This is my calling,” Boren said.
In 24 years of teaching, some of her students have gone on to become certified ASL interpreters and another teaches the language at Herriman High School.
“I like to say I gave ASL birth to those people,” she said.
Developing students into sign language experts is just part of the lesson learned in this classroom.
Boren wants her students to ask themselves how they can make people around them feel like they belong.
“I love that inclusivity is getting more attention than ever before,” she said. “If they can remember how to be inclusive and how to see people and how to make sure that you feel welcome, you feel safe, you feel comfortable here, then I have done my job.”
Boren is thankful this calling found her and regardless of how far her students take their knowledge of American Sign Language, she hopes they leave her classroom feeling a little bit better about themselves compared to when they started the class.
“When you can connect with that student and you can help them feel like, I see you and care about you, you are going to grow here, you are going to learn some things – and you give them that sense of competency and they feel some of their self-worth grow because of their learning in here,” she said. “We make a difference. That is so powerful.”
