Sitting on the bus not knowing what was going to happen is nerve-wracking to anyone, but it is more so when you are about to be submerged into a new culture completely. In 2013, during my summer going into sophomore year of high school, I had the opportunity to study American Sign Language at Project Contemporary Competitiveness.

PPC was a six-week program that was designed to show students a glimpse into what college life would be like. During these six weeks, you chose two classes, and one of my choices was American Sign Language. At the end of the course, I went on a field trip to a deaf school to submerge ourselves in deaf culture for a day.

Since we were leaving so early to get to the school we stopped for breakfast at an IHop on the way. Our challenge, however, was to pretend like we were deaf and only use sign language to communicate. My teacher had us do this for practice, but the other customers were confused. My friend and I got a table by ourselves and were practicing signing the menu before our server got to our table. When she finally came around to taking our order she seemed unamused and frustrated. I signed that I wanted Red Velvet pancakes and orange juice, but given the look of annoyance on her face, I just pointed to the picture on the menu. It was very interesting to see how a restaurant full of people would react to “deaf” people.

When we finally got to the school, my nerves set in. Being the only one who had a background in sign language prior to PCC, everyone was asking me to help them practice. We were escorted into the building by the principal and into the cafeteria where in a few short moments the bell would flash/ring and deaf students would flood in. Once they came in and started filling up the rest of the cafeteria it was communication chaos.

Hands were flying everywhere. The teachers around the room introduced themselves, but most I couldn’t see and the interpreter was very quiet. Once the teachers were done the students that sat at our tables introduced themselves and had us introduce ourselves. They forced us to sign. You had to try your best, and if you didn’t know the signs they helped you. They were very encouraging and supportive of our efforts.

For the rest of the day, we split into groups and integrated ourselves in the different classes they had at the school. My group went down the hall and into this open room that looked like a child watching center you would find at the YMCA; anyone passing can see over the walls and watch what was going on. The structure of the building was open and roomy.

When we entered our space we got into a circle and played charades, which of course the deaf students were great at so they targeted the hearing students. With this activity, they took us out of our comfort zones and really put us on the spot. Also, there was no interpreter at all. You had to figure out what the teachers were saying and if you didn’t pay attention you would miss it. We were having so much fun nobody was keeping track of the time.

Soon it was time to go, so we loaded back onto the bus. Deaf people, I learned, are very energetic when they are communicating and very excited to share their culture with others. They were very accepting of us the whole time we were in their school. Like I mentioned before I had a background in American Sign Language before this trip so I was more educated on the language which I believed helped my classmates get over their fear of messing up

Signing is very difficult and it’s easy to make mistakes. Being an interpreter has always been a dream of mine and this experience is important to me because it helped me explore and it confirmed that that is what I want to do with my life. I also built my understanding of the use of facial expressions when signing and showed me their appreciation for hearing people learning how to sign.