Hearing the call to sign
From the moment you start talking with Marissa Pellis, you know she is authentic.
Young, articulate and passionate, Pellis recalls always wanting to be a veterinarian — to the point her family averted roadkill to avoid her tears at the age of 2.
But it was a random encounter at a local vet clinic where she worked in high school that would eventually drive her to bring a Veterinary Medical American Sign Language (ASL) Course to Auburn’s College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM).
Thanks to CVM’s Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Dr. Melinda Camus and the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind’s Lindsay Kekoolani who supported course creation, Pellis can now communicate with her Deaf clientele, better serving members of the Deaf community and their pets.