Ocean City Student Admitted to Prestigious Gallaudet University

OCEAN CITY – For only the third time in her career as American Sign Language (ASL) teacher at Ocean City High School (OCHS), Amy Andersen is celebrating a student’s acceptance into the prestigious Gallaudet University, the only liberal arts university in the world for the deaf. OCHS senior Ashlyn Petro, a hearing student, will study Linguistics in the fall; GU has only a five percent acceptance rate of hearing students.
“We are so excited and I am so proud of Ashlyn,” said Andersen. “This is an amazing accomplishment, as they only accept hearing students who they feel have a strong enough fluency in ASL. All classes at GU are taught in ASL, and Ashlyn will not have any interpreters, so she has to be proficient enough in ASL for it to be her language of instruction. Ashlyn began learning ASL less than two years ago and she is exceptional.”
“I feel so honored to be able to spend four years in one of the biggest Deaf communities using ASL. I can’t wait to immerse myself in such an ASL and Deaf culture hub like Gallaudet. Everyone I have met so far has been extremely kind and I just know that living on campus will open me up to meeting a whole new world of people,” said Petro. “I can’t wait!”
According to Andersen, Petro hopes to do research on the connection between language acquisition for deaf children and its impact on their English reading and writing skills. Since the ASL program began at OCHS 12 years ago, Petro is one of only two students from OCHS ever to be accepted into an undergraduate program at GU; another student was accepted into a graduate program. Petro’s own talents will be on display in this year’s ASL Show, an original musical that she wrote, titled “ASL: A Voice Awakens,” which will be performed at OCHS June 2 and June 3 at 7:00 p.m.
Petro visited the GU campus on March 21, when she spent the day with 30 OCHS ASL classmates and Andersen on a field trip. Deaf chaperones and alumni of GU escorted the group on a tour; they then ate lunch and then had free time on campus. This was the second time ASL students from OCHS visited GU. Petro did a one-hour interview called the American Sign Language Proficiency Interview with a Deaf admissions officer on campus – the final part of her application to GU.
“It’s a total immersion. Entering the campus is like entering a foreign country because everyone signs, including those working in the cafeteria and bookstore! As students walked the grounds, they learned about the history of Deaf Culture and experienced the unique culture of the Deaf all around them,” said Andersen. “I cannot give them this awareness in a classroom, they must see it and breathe it for themselves.”
“Gallaudet is a different world,” agreed Sara Pustizzi, OCHS Class of 2009, who attended GU for her Masters in Speech and Pathology. She currently is a speech therapist in Cape May. “You go on campus and everyone signs. It’s Deaf culture, so I’m hearing, but I’m entering a minority on campus. Nobody talks while you’re in public and no one uses the phone. It was hard at first, but I managed to communicate effectively and, over time, you pick it up and feel more comfortable.”
Megan Cinquegrani, OCHS Class of 2006, attended GU for her undergraduate degree and went on to be an interpreter in Washington, D.C. for the Pentagon and the White House – she signed for Michelle Obama.
Petro has a lot to look forward to, and a lot of people who helped her. According to Andersen, “the reason my program is perhaps different than others is because of the close collaboration with our local Deaf community.” Petro applied to GU with the help of the Deaf in Ocean City, studied for her interview with them, and was even walked to her GU interview by Eli Pogue, a Deaf Ocean City resident who also wrote a letter of recommendation for Petro, along with his wife, Carrie Pogue, both of whom are GU alumni.