Utah Valley University (UVU) students in the American Sign Language (ASL) and Deaf studies program got to experience an immersive trip to Washington, D.C., and Gallaudet University in October 2025.
If you haven’t had a lot of interactions with the Deaf community, you may not know the appropriate way to get a Deaf person’s attention. Or how to order a drink at Starbucks without speaking. Or how to communicate silently with a teammate on the soccer field.
Utah Valley University (UVU) students in the American Sign Language (ASL) and Deaf studies program got to discover the answers to those questions and more during an immersive trip to Washington, D.C., and Gallaudet University in October 2025.
“Because Gallaudet is the only liberal arts university primarily created for Deaf and hard-of-hearing students, and the campus is bilingual, it's really the only way the students can get immersed in the language for the full nine days,” said UVU ASL professor Jamie Bassett, who led the trip.
The UVU students — some of whom are part of the Deaf or hard of hearing community themselves — attended a variety of activities centered around Deaf culture, including the “Signing Starbucks” (where everything from the staff to the décor features ASL and even hearing customers are encouraged to learn how to sign their favorite drinks), Gallaudet athletics events (where teammates use ASL mid-game to communicate tactics), and the university’s Deaf Film Festival.
“I think a lot of people think Deaf people are disadvantaged because they can't yell,” Bassett said. “But they also can say things to each other across the court where none of the other teammates understand. And it's really cool to see how much more of an advantage they have over other teams because they are using sign language and able to communicate with the coaches and each other in more ways than hearing teams can."
They also visited the usual Washington, D.C. landmarks, such as the Capitol Building, the Library of Congress, the Washington Monument, Arlington National Cemetery, and more.
During the entire trip, UVU students attempted to speak as little as possible, or not at all.
“One thing I'll never forget about this trip is the feeling of not using my voice for a week and functioning almost perfectly,” said UVU student Jeralie Hymas. “It is the only way for full immersion. It took effort, and I'm not sure how to measure improvement, but I can't see any other way to be fully immersed in ASL.”
Bassett said that level of saturation not only increases the students’ skills, but it also helps them gain confidence that they can succeed in a number of different careers involving ASL.
“It just really takes the students’ ability to use the language in the classroom to an environment that is in all different registers — it's unpredictable,” Bassett said. “So their language grows really fast. And then because of that, when they graduate from our program and go out into the field, they're usually a lot more comfortable using the language.”
The variety of cultural experiences showed UVU students that their ASL career opportunities go far beyond the classroom, too.
“People always ask what I’m going to do with my degree, and I don’t know right now,” UVU student Katie Larsson said. “But talking with other students on the trip, someone told me that I could be a teacher aide. And at an event on campus, someone talked about the need for childcare for Deaf children. So my eyes were opened to possibilities I hadn’t thought of before.”
Bassett said UVU’s Deaf Studies Program is the biggest in the country, with more than 800 students registered to take some form of ASL or Deaf studies class.
“We also have a really intensive program that helps students get certified to be able to work right after graduation, or even sometimes right before,” she said. “Often we see them certified before graduation, so their practicum or their internship can actually be paid, which is really nice and not something you can do in other places.”
But beyond the classroom and the career potential, UVU student Holly Durrant said the trip was a reminder that Deaf studies goes above theory and into the practice of real lives and real culture.
“This trip serves as a reminder that the language and culture are diverse, that there is not a singular approach to the Deaf experience, and that we need to be mindful of those diverse experiences if we ever hope to be fully inclusive of the Deaf community as a whole,” Durrant said. “This trip reignited my love for the Deaf community and Deaf spaces.”
