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HAVERGAL COLLEGE
A New Language of Compassion
T
hree girls in front of me silently open and
close their palms, swoop their fingers and
tap on their hands, smiling knowingly among
themselves. It would be oversentimental to
say it’s like watching friends who have
developed their own secret language, but
that’s what it’s like, except for the fact that
it’s not so much a secret as an established
communications form—American Sign
Language (ASL). When I ask for a sampling
of the language, each student easily signs the
letters of her name. Without being asked, they
even add my name to their demonstration.
Middle School students Leah Hilson, Rachel
Aceto and Jacqueline Fell came up with
the idea to learn ASL as part of the Form
Challenge, designed by Havergal’s Institute
to encourage Middle School girls to take
up new projects that they could spend an
hour a month on. The idea for the challenge,
now used at many schools, originates from
Google, where employees spend 20 per
cent of their time on passion projects. At
Havergal, the challenge had to fit in with
the school values—in this case, inquiry
and compassion.
These Grade 8 students were considering
learning Mandarin or Spanish when
Hilson came up with the idea of ASL.
“It’s very different than all of the spoken
languages because you use your hands and
communicate with things other than words,”
says Hilson. The others were instantly on
board. “ASL is a very cool way to learn a
new form of communication, and it’s a
fun experience, too,” says Aceto.
To start them off, Fell downloaded an app
called Beginner ASL onto her phone. They
also watched some YouTube videos. Their
goal is to be able to have a basic conversation
with someone who speaks ASL.
Fell says that learning ASL has added
significance for her because at her old
school, students were partnered with
students from a school for children with
special needs across the street, and her
partner was deaf. “I found it really hard to
communicate, but after a while we started
to understand each other,” she recalls. She
says that the chance to learn ASL brings
back the memory of that friendship. “I’m so
glad that I can continue on with this because
it’s so special to have that connection with
someone who can’t hear.”
Jacquel ine Fel l , Rachel Aceto & Leah Hi l son
Left to right:
Fell, Aceto and Hilson explore what they have learned in American Sign Language.