High school student Zeb Berliner has taken the skills he learned in his sign language courses to the next level — he is now signing at his church and will sign the national anthem at the 2017 high school graduation ceremony. 

Zeb began signing three years ago when he first enrolled in Ms. Katherine Ziegler’s sign language class to fulfill his language requirement.  

“I didn’t speak much as a kid and thought this might be a good class for me,” he said. 

Since that first day, Zeb found he has a passion for the language that has been taught in the high school since 1997.  

In addition to sharing his love of sign language at his church and at graduation, Zeb plans to major in American Sign Language at Suffolk County Community College in the fall. 

Zeb is not the first Shoreham-Wading River High School graduate who has taken sign language and turned it into a career. Former graduates have gone on to become teachers of the deaf, speech pathologists, ASL teachers and interpreters for the deaf.