With a smile spread across her face, Donna Leff jumped up and down with her arms flailing above her head in an effort to catch the attention of passing students.
But Leff wasn't part of a club campaigning outside the Memorial Union Tuesday - she was trying to raise awareness for deaf people.
Leff helped coordinate the first ASU American Sign Language Festival at the MU to help raise deaf awareness at ASU. The festival ends today.
"My goal is to educate the campus community," Leff, an ASL lecturer at ASU, said through an interpreter. "I want to make them aware of the deaf community."
Students can learn about the deaf community by visiting the festival's various booths dedicated to famous deaf people, history and advances in technology, Leff added.
"Deaf people are alive and are in the campus community," she said. "They can do anything that anyone else can."
While those passing by caught a glimpse of the deaf community's heritage Tuesday, those who stopped to check out the festival could sit in a nine-minute express class teaching basic sign language, she said.
There are anywhere from 16 to 18 sign language classes offered a semester, and there are nearly 1,000 students enrolled in these courses this semester, ASL Lecturer Pam Howard said.
Education sophomore Bethany Tanner, who is in her first semester of sign language at ASU, said she was attracted to ASL because of its visual learning.
"It's almost English," she said. "It's a lot easier to understand. It's not like Spanish; you're not changing words."
The course's visual learning is often the largest hurdle for ASL instructors to jump when attracting new students, Howard said.
"Most students [who take ASL] struggle expressing themselves," she said.
Between the festival's express class and ASL student representation, Leff said she hoped to attract more students to the ASL program.
Classes and historical information were not the only educational opportunities at the festival; ASL students and instructors also told stories and performed songs on a stage.
Being a part of the ASL community is a one-of-a-kind experience that translates to all aspects of a person's life, said mass communication junior Daniel Leach.
"I'm glad I took it, and I'm glad I've come this far," said Leach, who is now in his fourth semester of ASL. "It helps me communicate better with others."
Reach the reporter at: gary.levison@asu.edu.
