Each person has a skill that sets them apart from their peers. Some people can sing or juggle and others know how to dance. For Montclair State University women’s basketball player Mara McHugh, her uncommon talent exists off the court: she earned her biliteracy in American Sign Language (ASL).
“Being able to have this entire language in my toolkit is amazing,” said McHugh. “Most importantly, being able to communicate with the deaf and hard of hearing.”
ASL became a part of the McHugh family’s lives, with Mara being the youngest of three girls. “My oldest sister and I had a speech delay, so it was something my parents picked up on to help us move along.”
Mr. and Mrs. McHugh started teaching their kids the very basics of ASL.
“My parents got some words from our speech teacher to start out with,” said McHugh. “This includes basic words like milk and juice.”
Mara’s other older sister, Grace, didn’t have a speech delay, but being around her sisters grew her passion for ASL. She’s currently a student teacher of sign language, while continuing her studies at The College of New Jersey.
“My sister started taking ASL in high school and she loved it,” said McHugh. “Hopefully she can become a teacher of the deaf, since she’s always gravitated toward it.”
Mara, being the youngest sister, looked up to her older sister as she grew a passion for learning the language. As most younger sisters do, Mara followed Grace’s footsteps and continued to grow her silent vocabulary.
“Sign language was always my favorite part of the school day,” said McHugh. “Getting to see my sister do it before me, and then me being able to take it myself, was cool.”
“Mara saw me take ASL for three years in high school,” said Grace. “She loved it so much, she went on to take it all four years of high school.”
The McHugh sisters have their own language that hardly anyone can understand, and they put it to great use.
Mara McHugh is a freshman on the Montclair State women's basketball team from Hillsborough, New Jersey. Photo courtesy of Montclair State Athletics
“My sister likes talking to me at basketball games,” said Mara. “I’ll look over at her while on the court, and I’ll see her trying to sign to me.”
Mara now believes she better understands a group of people often misunderstood by the average person.
“ASL has taught me a lot about other people,” said McHugh. “I can read body language even better, even from those who don’t speak.”
“[Mara] is the only other person in our family who has a formal ASL education,” said Grace. “I really love whenever she’s willing to sign with me.”
While Mara McHugh hopes to go into athletic training, ASL remains a large part of her family's dynamic, with her sister serving as a teacher. Photo courtesy of Montclair State Athletics
Mara McHugh doesn’t plan on following the path of her sister by teaching American Sign Language full-time, but the freshman is keeping all her options open for her future. She hopes to eventually become a physical therapist or an athletic trainer, but isn’t afraid to be a different kind of trainer from the rest.
“I could eventually work with an athlete that’s deaf or hard of hearing, so I want to see how I can integrate it,” said McHugh.
For Mara, there are two accomplishments in her life that hardly anyone can say they have — playing a college sport, which only roughly seven percent do and earning her biliteracy in American Sign Language, which is even rarer to come by. McHugh possesses talents that many do not have, which will only make her continue to soar as a Red Hawk and into her future.
