SPRINGDALE — American Sign Language isn’t one of the languages Arkansas students may study and earn credit for as they work toward their high school diploma.

A Springdale High School junior is on a mission to change that.

Morgan Asbill has reached out to state legislators, at least one of whom has agreed to work with her on making sign language eligible for foreign language credit in Arkansas high schools.

Asbill, 16, originally began the project to get her Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest achievement in Girl Scouts. She is still working toward that award.

The project has personal meaning to her. Her father is deaf, as is her older brother, Devin, a 2011 Bentonville High School graduate.

“Watching (Devin) go through high school and not being able to graduate with honors because he can’t understand the syntax of other languages was kind of sad,” Asbill said. “I knew he wasn’t the only one.”

According to Asbill, American Sign Language is the third most widely used language in the United States.

State Rep. Andy Mayberry, R-Hensley, said he received an email from Morgan Asbill asking for his support of her project. He intends to introduce a bill during the coming legislative session that gives schools the option of offering sign language for credit. The legislative session begins in January.

“I thought to myself, if this had been offered when I was in high school, I would have loved to have taken the course myself,” Mayberry said.

Mayberry also has personal experience with deafness: His father lost his hearing as an adult. By the time Mayberry was born, his father was completely deaf.

“He’s never heard me speak,” Mayberry said.

He said he will gather input from all interested stakeholders, such as the Arkansas Association for the Deaf and the state Department of Education, before writing and introducing the bill.

“The devil’s always in the details,” Mayberry said. “What you would hope is that you craft a piece of legislation that everyone says is a good bill, that’s common sense. We’re helping and not hurting anybody.”

The cost of such a change is uncertain. Mayberry said his bill would not mandate American Sign Language be taught, but simply allow it to be offered.

“The only potential cost is there may be some additional training out there to make sure we’ve got enough qualified teachers,” he said. “That’s something we’ll be looking at.”

The Arkansas Department of Education did not return multiple phone messages seeking comment on this matter.

To raise awareness of the issue, Asbill has launched a Facebook page dedicated to her cause. She also has started an online petition that had attracted 736 signatures as of Friday.

Some other states allow sign language to be taught for credit in their public high schools. Virginia became one of the latest states to do so under a bill approved last year.

There are dozens of colleges and universities that accept American Sign Language in fulfillment of foreign language requirements.

Knowing sign language could open doors to employment for some students. The U.S. Bureau of Labor reports there were 58,400 jobs in 2010 for interpreters and translators, including sign language interpreters. The demand for those jobs is expected to increase 42 percent by 2020.

There are students who struggle with languages because of learning disabilities such as dyslexia, Asbill said. American Sign Language would provide another option to those kinds of kids.

Mayberry appreciates Asbill’s efforts.

“Hats off to this young lady, because she’s taken on a pretty big project here,” he said. “I’ve been very impressed with her energy, spirit and organization.”