The ASL club encourages all signing levels.
Mouths are closed, no one is saying a word. Several pairs of hands are moving fast, signing various motions. The room may be quiet, but a conversation is taking place among several Fresno State students.
The American Sign Language Club (ASL) has been an active student organization on the Fresno State campus since April 1998. The club provides students with a chance to interact with faculty and administration at Fresno State, as well as members of the deaf community.
“It is a complex, beautiful language,” ASL Club secretary Sharayah Hartman said.
The community plays a key role in the success of the club. The club gives anyone interested in ASL an opportunity to learn more about events in the deaf community, the culture and interpreting.
“I have always been interested in sign language. In high school I took it as my foreign language and I fell in love with it,” Hartman said.
The club organizes and hosts many events around the community. Past events include silent dinners, study nights at Starbucks, silent social nights at Dog House Grill and Halloween parties and a silent sleigh around Christmas time.
“I love serving at the various deaf events,” Hartman said.
Most members of the club are communicative disorder majors with plans to continue in the field. The ASL Club has even encouraged Fresno State students to branch out and change career choices.
“I decided to evolve my goals of becoming a teacher into becoming a deaf educator,” junior ASL club member Courtney Blohm said.
Anyone interested in ASL is highly encouraged to check out the club, regardless of one’s major or plans to join the club. Students who want to learn a new language will have a chance to discover a new way of communication in the ASL Club.
“This is a club for anyone and everyone who has an interest in American Sign Language,” ASL club president Nathan Gomez.
Gomez advises anyone interested in sign language to take a class and attend a ASL Club meeting to learn more.
“We do our best to provide a friendly and supportive environment for our members at all signing levels,” Gomez said.
