Learning new languages is a great way to expand your vocabulary and learn about different cultures but have you ever thought about learning a language that has no words? The “silent language,” as some call it, opens unique opportunities to speak using hand gestures. 

Delaney Petrow, senior, and Ava Malin, senior, have always had a special interest in learning sign language and since there was no course, they decided to take matters into their own hands and create a club.

“First, we had to find a sponsor for the club. Then, we found ten people who would want to join the club so we knew students would be interested. After that, Ava and I had several meetings with Dr. Lambert and our sponsor, Mrs. Smith, about the club. Finally, we held our first meeting on October 24th,” Petrow said.

The purpose of the club is for students with the interest of learning sign language to come together to form a solid basis of the language. According to Malin, she hopes that people will “know the basics of sign language and be more encouraged to learn more on their own, eventually being able to have basic conversations and have prior knowledge for future learning.”

According to Petrow and Malin, no prior knowledge is needed to join the club and those who want to expand their knowledge of languages should definitely join.

As they develop the club, Malin and Petrow are advertising the club in several ways to encourage more students to join.

“We’ve been promoting through the morning announcements, hanging up posters, and posting on our personal social media. We are also trying to start an instagram page where we’ll promote more,” Petrow said.

Even though the club is small, Malin and Petrow are working hard to create and organize fun activities to help students learn sign language.

“Right now we’re just learning the basics like the alphabet and numbers. In future meetings we’re going to learn more phrases and words. We also are going to make a discussion board for people to post words they feel are important to know and then teach them in sign,” Petrow said.

All of Petrow and Malin’s hard work and dedication is bound to pay off in the future as they grow the club and gain recognition throughout LZHS.

“Being able to speak sign language is a valuable skill because it connects you with a broader group of people, regardless of their native spoken language,” Petrow said. “Hopefully, the sign language club will inspire LZHS to create an actual sign language class in the future.”