With 13 percent of the United States deaf or partially deaf there is always a demand for ASL interpreters so people can easily communicate to the handicapped. One student, sophomore Rebecca Lucey, has decided to help meet the demand and has started teaching others basic sign language after school on Mondays in Mr. Bart’s room.

“It started out because I needed service hours and because I’m the vice president of the American Sign Language honor society,” Lucey said. “I think it’s important for people to learn though because if you go deaf or meet a deaf person you’ll need a way to communicate. I have found it helpful in my life because I am hard of hearing and sometimes I can’t hear people so I’ll just sign.”

Fellow students have found the program helpful in a variety of ways.

“It’s very beneficial to know if you ever want to go into special education or deaf education,” sophomore Gabby Glorioso said. “It’s a great way to talk to someone that might not have as good of hearing as yourself. So far, I’ve enjoyed learning and participating in the language a lot.”

Lucey’s decision to start an Intro to ASL class has the approval of her teacher.

“It makes me happy to see my students taking time to teach others ASL,” American Sign Language teacher Edward Bart said. “I think it’s helpful and great that other students are starting to learn the language as I think the skills could help them in the future.”

Lucey tries to make and teach the information simple so that it’s easy for students to learn.

“I don’t want to make the material too hard,” Lucey said. “I want people to be able to easily pick up the skills and maybe tell their friends it’s not difficult so they get interested too.”