A group of 30 students gathered on October 24 for their first meeting as members of Xavier High School’s new American Sign Language (ASL) Club. Led by Ms. Gina Haag, the aim of the club is to increase communication and make it possible to hold conversations with the deaf community. She shared that her motivation to start the club was driven by a family friend who deals with mutism. Ms. Haag also expressed that her ability to connect to students of any kind is an important part of her career as a teacher.

“The American Sign Language Club will work to increase awareness of the signed language and deaf culture,” Haag said. “We hope to provide a welcoming environment for members of the Xavier community who want to increase their knowledge of ASL.”

So far this year, the ASL Club has nominated officers and learned the basics of fingerspelling. There are no specific events scheduled for the club yet. However, with enough interest, there is a deaf outing that they could potentially participate in.

“I would love to eventually be able to converse with those who use this sort of ‘foreign language’,” senior club president Clara Petri said. “It is important to experience the difficulties that others sometimes have to go through just to simply communicate. I hope that it will make an impact.”

If any students are interested in being part of the school’s first American Sign Language Club, see Ms. Haag for details.