Madison O’Neill

ASL students perform to a varied audience at the ASL showcase to the song “Smooth Criminal” By Michael Jackson. The most difficult part of coordinating the showcase for ASL teacher Mrs. Natalie Cooney is coordinating with students for practice. coordinating with the students. “I have lots of students who are into a lot of things so one thing that’s very difficult is coordinating time to make sure that everyone’s schedule works together so we can practice for the showcase,” Cooney said.

On Saturday, April 13, students from the American Sign Language (ASL) 3 Honors and 4 Honors classes demonstrated what they learned over the course of the school year at the 17th annual ASL Showcase. 

The ASL showcase, which was led by ASL teacher Mrs. Natalie Cooney, was themed “Throw That Track Back” and included various songs from the 1960s to the 2010s. The performers encouraged each other throughout the entire process, which ultimately ended in success as the show had over 550 people in attendance and over $6,000 raised.  

“My favorite part is probably just singing the song and actually just going along with the music,” ASL 4 Honors performer Mia Nixon (12) said. “Everyone’s just cheering each other, encouraging each other.”

As everyone started to settle into their seats, the showcase started by honoring the late Sandon Larson, an Ayala 2005 alumni who was a major advocate for deaf rights. He recently passed away in September of 2023 and it was announced that the ASL scholarship was renamed to the Sandon Scott Larson American Sign Language Scholarship in honor of him. The Larson family also committed to donating an annual amount of $1,200 toward the scholarship fund. This scholarship is given to graduating seniors majoring in ASL or Deaf Studies in college, which will be awarded at Bulldog Night. 

Act I started off with songs from the 2000s to the 2010s with “Boyfriend” by Justin Bieber, “Just The Way You Are” by Bruno Mars, and “Never Getting Back Together” by Taylor Swift. After this, Erin Horner (11), an ASL member, told their ABC story—a story about someone using the basic letters of the alphabet— before the second act began. 

“[My favorite part is] actually singing it because it’s a lot of fun and you can start dancing with it too,” ASL 4 performer Malaya Csupak (12) said.

Act II consisted of some older songs such as “Smooth Criminal” by Michael Jackson, “Dancing Queen” by ABBA, and “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac. Mrs. Cooney knows how beneficial and inspiring the showcase can be not only for the performers, but for the audience as well as this showcase gives more representation to the deaf community. 

“I think it’s beneficial to people who are watching because they get to see that transformation occurs and they get to see the link between ASL and music, and how ASL is a language,” Cooney said. “It validates American Sign Language.” 

The 17th annual ASL showcase was a success as it captured the essence of the ASL community by the students showing off their hard work from the past three to four years. As the night came to an end, there is no doubt that the audience will be excitedly anticipating next year’s ASL showcase. 

“The students have completed four years of running the show, and it’s their show,” Cooney said. “It’s really just a celebration of the ending of their four year commitment to ASL.”