A new club gets students together to practice their American Sign Language skills outside of class.

ASL Club President Haille Treadway, a second-year ASL student, started the organization in the fall to give students a space to practice their sign language skills outside of the classroom.

“A lot of students think they can do this alone,” Treadway said. “That’s really not the case.”

Treadway started learning ASL during the COVID-19 pandemic because she “always had an interest in languages” and had a lot of extra time. During that time, Treadway said, she didn’t have anyone to practice with.

“ASL is not only a language, it is a community and a culture,” Treadway said. “With ASL, the deaf community … and the language itself are so heavily interconnected. You can’t really take one without understanding the other.”

Treadway said the purpose of the club is not to teach ASL, but rather give students with existing knowledge of the language a chance to practice with others.

Both hearing and deaf students can participate in the club if they are interested in learning ASL and want to find a community to practice with or resources to learn.

“I’ve had multiple people who approached me on, like, the interest of trying to learn … ASL or get involved with the community,” Treadway said. “It’s been nice to see, just, the community growing and people having more interest in something that unfortunately goes unrecognized.”

Treadway said there are “so many amazing teachers here on campus.”

The college is offering three ASL courses this semester.