This year Ms. Monica Albright has decided to add a new club at WCHS. It is called the ASL (American Sign Language) Club. Club members can expect to learn the basics of sign language and about deaf culture.

Ms. Albright said the purpose of this club is to educate students about deaf culture. She said, “At some point in your life, you are bound to come across an individual with a hearing impairment and it is good to be able to have some knowledge about how to communicate.”

This club currently meets twice a month on Tuesdays right after school in room 113, from 3 p.m. until 4 p.m.

At their first meeting, Ms. Albright said they had around 9 students show up and the following day Ms. Albright had more students come and say they were interested in joining. This club is open to all students, experienced or not .

A freshman member of the club said that American Sign Language is actually surprisingly easy to learn. This student had little knowledge of sign language even with their friend being deaf (which is why they wanted to join the club in the first place). When asked how Ms. Albright teaches the language to them, this WCHS student said that Ms. Albright has videos from YouTube of a deaf individual that teaches words and phrases to a non-deaf individual. Students watch and follow along. She also has them play games such as Hangman or Pictionary so they can memorize new words and phrases.