Maryland Community Newspapers Online
Quince Orchard High School senior Alex Cesare started studying American Sign Language two years ago and will join other seniors in performing The Star-Spangled Banner at graduation.
"I used to work in a grocery store and there would be deaf people who would come in and be in my line — and I used to think ‘I really wish I could help these people,'" said the 18-year-old from North Potomac of why he wanted to study ASL. "The story just kind of got written from there."
"Think of all the vocabulary words in a song," said Gershowitz. "They hated me…They practiced and practiced until they could keep up with the lyrics."
The former Miss Deaf America has taught ASL to hearing and deaf students in Montgomery County for 35 years, she said. Before that, Gershowitz, a former dancer, owned a professional dance company for the hearing and the deaf. She began losing her hearing at age seven, she said. By the time she was 17, she was completely deaf.
"As soon as they learn a little bit, they have to start signing with me," she said of her students. "They have to start finger-spelling with me or something because I really can't understand."
Gershowitz teaches first- and second-level ASL classes to hearing students at QOHS, she said.
Students begin learning letters, then quickly move to signing words, said Torrie Zadie, 16, of Gaithersburg. By third quarter, Gershowitz has them planning Music in Motion and moving their fingers to lyrics displayed on the wall.
Principal Carole Working had mirrors installed in Gershowitz's classroom so students could push back the desks and watch their movements, Gershowitz said.
Thursday's show included dancers, multiple-part harmonies, props and costumes. Her students put on a Broadway style performance using theatrical sign language with exaggerated movements and special signs for "Ooohs," "Ohs" and "Heys."
Students lip synced as they signed. Dancers stepped, stomped, shimmied and shook, performed pirouettes and kick-turns to help non-hearing guests see the songs' beats and rhythms.
Gershowitz had the final say on music, said Zadie.
"It has to have a point to it. She did not want all love songs," Zadie said of the theatrical selections. "She wanted things that could people relate to what's going on in the world."
Zadie, who began studying ASL in September, is so hooked that she broke into sign language during her interview.
"Some people don't have the ability to hear. … [A]nd I want to be able to communicate with them too," she said. Gershowitz "really inspired me in using sign language. … Now I'm thinking of doing this as a career."
