As of 2015, Tupelo High School has approximately 60 clubs. Eight of them are new to the school. Starting a club requires a student/teacher completing an application that must be submitted by the first Friday in August.

One of the new clubs is the American Sign Language club, which was started by deaf education teacher Kelly King.

“So many students have an interest in learning sign language, and it’s such a neat language,” King said. “I love, too, that once kids learn sign language, they can talk to my students, which really makes them feel more a part of their peer groups.”

Another deaf education teacher, 13 years prior to King, formed the first ASL club at THS. It became inactive after some time, but students were still intrigued with the nonverbal language. King revived the club when students continued to express their interest in sign language.

The club is more interactive than other clubs when it comes to meetings. Instead of only meeting during TA like other clubs, the ASL members meet every Tuesday morning at 7:10.

“It may seem early, but plenty of consideration was put into the time of the meetings,” King said. “Many students have activities such as sports and jobs after school, so it is harder to have regular meetings after school. It’s easier in the mornings because everyone isn’t trying to go to different places. Everyone is coming to the same place.”

With such limited time, members are not going to be fluent in the language. Although, they will have a nice, basic vocabulary and one on one communication wouldn’t be too much of a struggle.

The members meet in A110. No prior knowledge of sign language is required to join. “We start from scratch,” King said. “We start with the alphabet and work our way up to phrases and sentences.”

Every year the club will teach most of the same material, but King believes in the if you’re not using it, you’re losing it’ theory. Signing up for the club in following years will be like a review. The previous and the new members can be split so that they can practice different material ranging in difficulty. Prior members will also be able to move through the material more quickly and can help new members with learning the basics. That kind of club work would create opportunities for learning more sign language for everyone.

A big event that the club is hoping to participate in is a big Christmas party. The party would consist of the members of the club, deaf students from other Tupelo public schools and even schools from nearby towns.

“There will be food and learning games,” King said. “Which will allow the students to interact with deaf peers as well as hearing peers. It kind of unites the two worlds.”

This allows the members to practice their new language skills while also letting deaf students stray from talking mostly to only deaf students. To be eligible for the party, a member has to have attended at least five meetings.

-American Sign Language is a complex language that involves a combination of body movements and facial expressions.

-American Sign Language is the third most widely used language in the US.

-Different forms of ASL go back for over two hundred years.

-There are approximately six thousand types of sign language. The country one lives in decides which type they use.

-9 out of ten children who are born deaf are born to parents who can hear.

-Deaf people have safer driving records than hearing people nationally.