MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A beloved White Station High School teacher is retiring this spring, and her students want her sign-off to be special.
“Signing Off” is the name of the show the White Station Deaf Drama Club is staging this week in honor of teacher Rita Grivich.
Grivich teaches English and serves as the director of the club. She has helped deaf and hard of hearing students for nearly 48 years.
“Ms. Grivich is wonderful. I love her,” ninth-grader Qierstyn Betts-Prado said.
“That’s the sweetest lady in this school,” said 11th-grader Arizon Akin.
Students past and present are sending their thanks to Grivich.
One student sent a video of her re-enacting a performance she did decades ago.
“That’s the first song she ever did,” said a tearful Grivich.
White Station is one of the only public high schools in the area that offers several signing faculty members and interpreters, making it a destination for deaf and hard of hearing students.
Grivich said her students were the ones who introduced her to sign language, starting with a signed name for her.
“They gave me that, and I thought that was my first name, and I was so grateful for them. When I went to UT-Knoxville to really learn how to sign all that, that’s rat,” she said, demonstrating the sign with a laugh.
Retired interpreter Kathy Doughty spent many years laughing and working with Grivich.
She said working with deaf students is about more than just academics.
“They want to be a member of the, you know, the population of the school and be thought of as an equal. So we kind of help in that area,” Doughty said.
“Be proud of being deaf, be proud of your beautiful language, and just go ahead and spread information as well as entertainment to everyone,” Grivich said to her drama students.
The “Signing Off” show is Thursday night at 7 p.m. at the school.
