Jessica Babb | Broadcast Managing Editor

The first Christian Academy for the Deaf in Texas opened it’s doors this Tuesday.

The Academy, located off University Parks Drive in Waco, is a tuition-free school that provides curriculum focused on religion and education to Deaf students.

“We hope to help them develop their faith and develop leaders that can go out to the world and become models for the Deaf community and the Deaf world, throughout not just America but the entire world,” said Lewis Lummer, a Baylor American Sign Language Professor and President of the Christian Deaf Academy board.

After Lummer grew up with limited religious resources, he said he is overjoyed the academy is now open so he can provide new opportunities for Deaf students to learn about Christ.

“So my aunts and uncles and relatives all were Deaf and they sort of complained about school and I remember hearing that word, seeing that word ‘wish’ so often, that they wished for something like CAD. So that wish has now become a reality,” Lummer said.

There are many accommodations for students in the school, such as lights that will flash during emergencies, alarms that will sound when doors open and close, open seating and a wide open space in the school that will make it easier for students to see each other’s signs and communicate more efficiently throughout the day.

There are currently five students attending the school, and for them to have the opportunity to attend tuition-free, the school receives donations from individuals in the Waco community and across the country. Lummer said the school will still be accepting donations with hopes they can expand in the future.