Starting the year with a fun recreational activity, ASL club hosted their first meeting on Monday, Aug. 26 in the form of a donut social. All members new and old met to reconnect after the long summer, receive information about the year to come, learn some back-to-school signs, and enjoy some donuts.
“We wanted [to host] something that was welcoming, and not too intense for the first [meeting],” Co-President Hannah Daniel ‘25 said. “We wanted people to feel invited and be able to ask any questions.”
Additionally, the officers wanted to emphasize that the ASL club is open to students that aren’t in the ASL classes. Because of this, the event was able to attract new people, like Sarah Fattu ‘27 who said she was interested in learning the new school signs, and looks forward to learning more about ASL and Deaf culture in the future. ASL club treasurer Ayman Halai ‘27 also found her interest for the club outside of the actual class.
“I’m not in ASL as a class but I joined the club last year as a freshman,” Halai said. “ASL club is just fun to be in. I met a lot of nice people, and I got to learn a lot of cool signs. Eventually I became an officer of this club as well.”
Included in the agenda of the meeting was the officer team introductions, as well as an overview of the goals of the club. Due to budget cuts, the ASL course is being pushed to come to a conlcusion, which makes the mission of the club more valuable to its members.
“I hope to get more people interested in [ASL]. Knowing that they are cutting the program, we can still help people learn [the language] if they want to learn,” Co-President Katie Thiel ‘25 said.
