In the ninth episode of the third season of the TidePod, we interviewed Montgomery County Public School, MCPS, students involved in the American Sign Language, ASL, community about their experiences learning ASL and what it means to be an ASL user. In MCPS, ASL is offered as a world language and can be used to fulfill Maryland diploma requirements. Students in these classes learn much more than grammar and vocabulary in these classes; they are also exposed to the culture and heritage of the Deaf community. There is even an ASL club in Richard Montgomery High School to learn more about the community and spread awareness of the issues regarding the Deaf community. We talked to ASL club founder and leader Julia Craig about her experiences and what led her to start this club. Also, we talked to Marilyn Nguyen about why she chose to study ASL  and her experiences learning it. In addition to interviewing students involved with the ASL community, the host for this episode conducted research on the history of ASL to familiarize audiences on the topic. 

You can listen to “Why ASL?” here.

The featured guests are Julia Craig and Marilyn Nguyen.

The episode is hosted by Courtney Kim.

The script was written by Courtney Kim and Mirula Prasad.

Publicity and Outreach by Courtney Kim and Mirula Prasad.

Graphic by Valerie Wang. Music courtesy of Corrigan Peters.

Edited by Rediet Ghebrehiwet. Produced by Mirula Prasad and Amna Shamim.

You can listen to the rest of the TidePod podcast here.