Oakdale High School offers many different language courses, including Spanish, French and ASL. Elizabeth Mulcahy is one of two teachers who teaches ASL here at Oakdale High School. She’s been a teacher for 15 years in Frederick County, and 13 of those years have been at OHS. Before coming to Oakdale High, she taught at two different middle schools; Crestwood and Walkersville Middle School.
Mulcahy’s experience with ASL started when she was a lot younger as she mentioned an anecdote from her childhood. “I started using sign language when I was very young,” she shared. “My dad uses American sign language, and I communicated with him.”
At first, as a teacher, Mulcahy taught Spanish to students in middle and high school roughly a decade ago. However, Oakdale High School wanted to introduce its deaf education program to the school. This is when she began putting a lot more effort and passion into studying American sign language. Eventually, in 2020, she was able to get a masters degree in deaf education from McDaniel College.
“My favorite part of being a high school teacher is really just being with my students and getting to know them,” she explains. “I think the best part about being a teacher is building those relationships with kids to encourage them that school doesn’t have to be torture.”
Mulcahy understands that school can be a very stressful and difficult experience for students, but she goes out of her way to make them feel more comfortable and included in her classroom.
Students also appreciate the way in which she teaches her class. “I like her style a lot because she doesn’t use her voice when instructing, so we can’t rely on our hearing,” voiced Klaus Zeigler, a sophomore at Oakdale High School. “When I started her class I had no idea how to sign, but now I can somewhat have a conversation with a deaf person.”
By teaching students in an environment where they have to focus on her hands only, it makes it easier for her students to focus on the signs.
While she is mostly known for teaching ASL, she’s also the advisor for the Student Government Association (SGA) here at Oakdale High School. The SGA works to develop students’ soft skills by working behind the scenes on many of the different events at Oakdale. Their effort leads to events such as homecoming, spirit days, Mr. Oakdale, and the carnival at the end of the year.
With Mulcahy transforming Oakdale into a very fun-packed school, we can very well say that Oakdale is in a better place with teachers like Mrs. Mulcahy!
