Talk about bright lights and a big stage! Harrison High School created a unique opportunity for ASL and A Cappella students. On March 23, 2024, at the Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, Harrison’s ASL Club and A Cappella classes came together to prepare a special moment to share with everyone.
About 12 signers, 27 singers, 1 club photographer, and class Deaf Mentor Nate Blair took part in the signing for the Cincinnati Cyclones game, including Mrs. Wallace. Amber Wallace is the ASL teacher at WHHHS who continued the newly offered ASL classes here at Harrison. Mrs. Wallace is a part of the deaf community and openly speaks about how important inclusion is for everyone. The involvement of the PTO and Cincinnati Cyclones contributed to determining what specific choice of song was to be signed. Hard work paid off, but how much was truly put into this special moment?
In addition to the A Cappella students learning the song “God Bless America” which took five rehearsals, as well as out of class rehearsal, the ASL club learned signs for this song.
For over a month, the students as well as Mrs. Wallace spent time helping to gloss the song or write out how it will be signed, based on research and looking at several examples from within deaf culture and community. One of the most important details is that this is the third time this year that an ASL class/club is signing at an event—two in the district on Veterans Day and this one, which is the first public event.
The ASL teacher and creator of the ASL Club gave me the opportunity to speak with her about what this means for her. Mrs. Wallace says without hesitation, ‘’It means everything to me… as someone who is deaf, it means a lot to have representation on this level in terms of deaf culture. Since this is only the second year for ASL, it’s even more impactful for the students to see a correlation between the standards-based curriculum and practical, real-world connections.”
One thing Mrs. Wallace hopes to get out of this opportunity is continued connections between the Deaf community and the hearing world, real-world applications for students, and challenging students to keep “leveling up” their skills. ‘’I have the best students, and they have grown exponentially this year. I am proud of each of them and their individual and collective accomplishments’’ Mrs. Wallace adds. Moments like these are the ones we cherish forever. Here’s to many more moments to come at Harrison High School for the deaf community.
