A club that requires no speech. A club that relies on bodily expression. American Sign Language club.

The president of this group, Brennan Bariso, Div. 652, created American Sign Language Club, or ASL club, three years ago, because the original creators of the club had all graduated.

Bariso also wanted to help his friend, Julia, who is deaf.

“I wanted Julia to have a way to make friends and show her view of life with people,” Bariso said. “She’s great at sign language and that’s something so special about her.”

“There is a large deaf community, and we wanted [the students of] Lane to be able to communicate with them. You start having an appreciation for deaf people,” Sanya Khatri, Div. 664, a member of the club since the beginning, said.

He had no idea the club would be a success and that so many people wanted to learn from him. “When people found out that I knew how to sign, they were always like ‘Can you teach me?’ or ‘You should start a club.’ It’s such a humbling feeling,” he said.

Ms. Giannelli, a special education, math teacher, and sponsor of ASL, said, “I do see quite a number of students attending, who come week after week, and this just shows the great interest.”

Many use what they learn outside the class to communicate with others.

“I don’t know sign language fluently but I definitely do, when talking to Julia specifically, use sign and understand her much better,” Khatri said.

Savannah Rivera Agapay, Div. 671, shows her interest as she comes to the ASL meeting almost every week.

“I joined because I wanted to further study sign,” she said.“When you know the deaf culture, you become more aware of the language.”

Agapay has been in the club for three weeks and said that it made her think about how it would be great if it were an actual language class.

Giannelli said that she took sign language in college, but never had the chance to continue it.

“It’s not only benefitting me, but it’s also benefitting them [the students],” Gianelli said.

Another student, Makayla Duncan, Div. 854, said she joined ASL because she was “enthused by the language” and wants to be an interpreter in the future.

“You can talk to someone without making noise…that’s amazing!” Duncan said. Many students are excited about the new year of ASL club.

“Even though it is a disability, you get this entirely new perspective and open up to a whole new group of people,” Khatri said.