Before a sold-out audience in her hometown stadium at the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship, Brianna Therve met the opportunity of a lifetime and performed like a star.
Producers chose Therve, 18, a junior at Barbara Goleman Senior High School, to sign “America the Beautiful” as the Florida Memorial University Ambassador Chorale sang the song.
“It made me very proud of myself,” Therve said abut the experience, through American Sign Language interpreter Alex Tuya. “I was involved, I had everyone looking at me.”
Also signing at the Jan. 19 Miami vs. Indiana game that ESPN said drew 33 million TV viewers was Maria Pernalete, 18, of Palmetto Bay, a senior at Miami Palmetto Senior High School. She accompanied 2025 American Idol winner Jamal Roberts during the national anthem.
The performances drew rousing applause from the stadium audience.
The students are enrolled in the Miami-Dade County Public School District’s Deaf/Hard of Hearing Program.
Both girls had to apply for the performance, and their parents were contacted to make sure they were okay with it, said Natalie Tappert, an administrator with the Deaf/Hard of Hearing Program.
Such a national spotlight for the department was a first for the district, said Sascha Ramsay, a curriculum specialist for the county program. Its students make up a small fraction of the 313,220 kids enrolled at public schools.
“[The district has] 490 deaf and hard of hearing students [and] 71 of those students communicate [with] American Sign Language,” Tappert said.
Some students like Therve are integrated into the general population, while kids who have other or multiple disabilities are in special class environments.
Therve has an interpreter like Tuya with her during classes at Goleman.
It is a hub for the deaf and hard of hearing in the North Region, and also draws students from other regions, Tappert said.
“The goal is social, social is a big component,” said Barby Sanabria, who co-chairs the district’s Deaf/Hard of Hearing Program. “We do activities that are specifically for the manual [American Sign Language users], deaf students so they can socialize from elementary all the way to high school.”
Palm Springs North Elementary and Palm Springs Middle School, which have programs for deaf and hard of hearing kids, have sent students to Goleman.
“[Goleman] is the largest deaf and hard of hearing program for Miami-Dade County Public Schools,” said Tuya, the interpreter.
It has 27 students, two of whom are dual sensory, meaning they have both hearing and vision loss, according to Asst. Principal Yanilet Fortich.
Inclusivity at the school is a point of pride for Goleman Principal Dr. Manuel Sanchez III.
“I like that we have so much diversity … it’s a variety of different kids blending together,” Sanchez said.
Therve said while not many students have learned sign language, she says that certain kids make an attempt now and again.
Getting to perform on Jan. 19, and to represent her culture and community before such a huge audience, was important for her.
“In the hearing world, the hearing people view us as deaf and being unable to do things,” Therve said. “In our deaf culture, we support that we can do anything: We can read, we can write, we can drive, anything a hearing person can do.
“There should be no discrepancy or difference between us,” Therve said. “The only thing we lack is hearing … we act and perform the same as a hearing person.”