CLC Students Win Awards in American Sign Language Honor Society Competition

Lauren Elson (left), from Breezy Point, was awarded second place in the “novice” category with her original story titled “Dirty Diaper,” and Vicki Johnson-Sherbrooke, from Aitkin, took second place in the “native” category with an original number story titled “Banana Thief.” (Credit: CLC)

Two Central Lakes College students were awarded national honors by the American Sign Language Honor Society in its literature competition.

This year’s competition theme was “Number stories,” or the art of telling a story using manual ASL numbers in order to tell a story in sign language.

Lauren Elson of Breezy Point took second place in the “novice” category with her story “Dirty diaper,” while Vicki Johnson-Sherbrooke of Aitkin earned second place in the “native” category with her story titled “Banana Thief.”

“I love coming up with my own ideas and then coming up with words for each number. And so that’s what this number story was like,” explained Johnson-Sherbrooke. “I love the fact that socializing in ASL with facial expression is so expressive. It’s so clearly understood when you’re speaking with other Deaf people.”

This competition pays homage to ASL storyteller Eric Malzkuhn, who played a pivotal role as one of the early pioneers of ASL storytelling.