Karidad Villaneuva’18 and Tess Szydlik’18 at the Activity Fair promoting the new ASL club.
Photo Courtesy of Karidad Villaneuva’18

This year, juniors Alexa Ruperti, Tess Szydlik, and Karidad Villanueva will bring a new American Sign Language club to IHA, which will allow students to learn the basics of ASL and more about the deaf community.

The girls have had an interest in ASL since Tess and Karidad came from a public school with a hearing impaired program. They talked to their friends around IHA and tried to spark interest in sign language.   Karidad explained that while they were doing so they found “people that didn’t know what ASL was, people who have been learning ASL for years, and everything in between.” The juniors would like to offer the IHA community a chance to expand their knowledge of the language through this club.

Mrs. Roberts, the ASL Club moderator, stated, “Kari, Tess and Alexa are so excited to provide a venue for their classmates to learn a new language and are truly passionate about raising the awareness of the deaf community. I am so proud of them for all of the hard work that they have put in to get this club started!”

In an attempt to avoid a lecture type environment they will introduce new topics and discussion points throughout the meeting that the club members can expand on. There will also be opportunities for students to teach the rest of the club members about the language, the community, or both, and hopefully some guest speakers.

The club is the first Tuesday of every month in Room 128, and the first meeting is October 8^th.

By Victoria Lubas’17, Executive Editor-in-Chief