Signing Owls connects deaf and non-deaf students

Bensalem High School’s American Sign Language club, the Signing Owls, provides deaf and non-deaf students an opportunity to get to know and learn from each other. In a Courier Times article about the club, Amanda McGreggor, a sign language interpreter at Bensalem High School and the Bucks County Intermediate Unit, said, “We want to create awareness in the community for deaf culture, sign language, hearing loss and everything that basically surrounds that. We had our first meeting three years ago, and we’ve been rocking it ever since.” One student club member, Sophie Roberto, said she has been able to share with her non-deaf classmates skills such as gestures, body language and how to fingerspell, to open the lines of communication between deaf and non-deaf students.

The club recently hosted it’s first-ever Silent Movie Drive-In fundraiser. The film shown was Versa Effect, which follows two teachers who switch bodies for a day. The actors perform entirely in sign language, and the movie also has captions. The funds raised from the drive-in fundraiser will benefit a local interpreter who lost a home in a fire. The club also has a goal to provide a college scholarship to a fellow club member or someone pursuing a career in sign language.