Springs Homeschool students Ashley and Alyssa Farrell, ages 11 and 9, have been studying American Sign Language (ASL) for three years and have signed the National Anthem at many high profile venues, including before professional sports games at Staples Center and StubHub Center, and at bodybuilding competitions at Muscle Beach in Venice.
They have met celebrities at the events, including bodybuilders Lou Ferrigno and Stan Lee.
They also met a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient while signing at a 2013 Veteran’s Day event. The veteran’s events, the girls’ mother, Monica Merrill-Farrell, noted, are “their favorite performances.” They have signed by the Vietnam Veterans’ The Moving Wall, a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans memorial in Washington, D.C., when it was in Temecula and Covina.
Ashley and Alyssa are Homeschoolers who take classes at the Riverside Student Center. They are in grades 6 and 4, and live in Chino. They are in their 4th year with Springs.
The girls’ mother noted that the family hadn’t originally planned to homeschool, but made the decision due to some family health issues. She said, “It took our family a good year and a half to get into a good working routine, but now have a hard time even thinking about going back to a traditional school.”
The girls learned ASL at their church from a song leader who is an ASL teacher. Monica noted, “Both girls have a natural gift for the language and had a wonderful teacher.”
The girls now use sign at their church while leading the congregation in song.
This coming summer, the girls will teach ASL to other children through a City of Covina program.
The girls’ other interests include robotics. They formed a team, Robo Junkies, which builds and programs robots and competes with other teams. In their first competition, they placed in the top five teams.
Their ES, Lynn Kusleika, observed, “These sisters do amazing things. They are very bright and just all-around neat kids.”
