Northwestern’s American Sign Language Club hosted a learning event on the ASL alphabet Tuesday in Kresge Hall. 

Weinberg sophomore and ASL Club President Gabby Cesena said the organization became a registered student organization this spring. Previously, Cesena said, opportunities to learn ASL on campus were sparse besides a Norris Mini Course.

Cesena said she started the club after she noticed interest from other students in learning ASL. She added she has wanted to start the club since her freshman year because she was “surprised and a bit sad” that NU did not offer ASL language classes or have an ASL club.

“Northwestern students have this hunger for knowledge, but I feel like this is an area, specifically disability in general, where we kind of drop the ball,” she said.

After the executive board introduced themselves, event attendees watched a video about the ASL alphabet with tips to remember the letters. Throughout the rest of the event, participants practiced spelling with the ASL alphabet. 

Weinberg first-year Elena Luo said while she knows some ASL through working with children who are hard of hearing, she wants to get better at it. Additionally, she wanted to join the club because she looked for ASL classes when she first arrived at NU but could not find any. 

“It makes everyday life so much more accessible because you never know who you’re going to be interacting with,” Luo said.

Weinberg sophomore Brandon Kopp said he was also surprised that an ASL club did not exist until now. He added that there is a lack of ASL classes at NU. 

Kopp said it is important to have an ASL club on campus because ASL is widely used.

“I think it’s an important culture and it’s an important language, and it’s something that’s not offered at Northwestern at all,” Kopp said.

Weinberg sophomore Janibeth Arroyo, the club’s marketing and communications executive board member, said learning ASL is important to her because of her future career goals.

She said Cesena first introduced her to ASL in Fall Quarter. Now, she said, she sees how learning ASL can help her future. 

“It’s essentially the third most common used language in the world,” Arroyo said. “I think it’s really important for communicating, especially in the area that I’m in, trying to pursue becoming a doctor.

At the end of the school year, Cesena said the club plans to host a painting event where attendees can paint their hands to match signed words, such as using green to represent the word “turtle.”

Cesena said she is also thinking about hosting another learning event before the end of the year. 

“We want to get interest,” Cesena said. “We want to get people here, we want to get people knowing about it, curious about it.”

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