Officer Profiles:
President: Daniel Gift
Daniel comes from the mystical land known as Pennsylvania, where they *gasp* drive without license plates on the front of their cars. An avid clarinet player and Doctor Who fangirl, Daniel spends most of his time using what few brain cells he has left trying to unlock the secrets of the universe. He concedes that perhaps his nerdiest moment was when he realized that his favorite sign in ASL was the sign for teleport, which he picked up in this quantum mechanics lecture. Daniel has gone from not knowing what the acronym ASL meant to being fascinated by the language and culture of Deaf Americans in the past 3 years, and is a firm believer that if he can learn ASL, so can anyone. He encourages anyone who is feeling bad about their efforts to learn a language to ask him about his infamous “Ice Cream Story” or the slightly less famous “Laundry Story,” which together represent the best of his ASL failures.
Treasurer: Angela Xu
Angela Xu '17 comes from somewhere yonder on the west coast, possibly from Nevada or California. Likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams? Angela is a language enthusiast and likes to talk, including in ASL. As an economics major whose life goal is to be as lazy as possible without dying, having dislikes is too much effort. Hobbies vary from week to week but include gaming, writing, drawing, playing music, and maximizing utility functions.
PR: Rae Perez
Rae Perez '19 is technically a San Diegan, but believes she is a New Yorker at heart. She has not yet lost the wonder of the seasons, and still gets excited when it rains. As a CODA (Child Of a Deaf Adult), she learned sign language growing up from her deaf mother. At Princeton, Rae is thinking about studying architecture or computer science and enjoys painting and listening to music in those rare spare moments. Fun fact: she hates walking, but she doesn't mind running. So if you see her in dashing about between classes, she's probably not late, she's just tired of walking.
Officer: Colin Lualdi
PUASL President Emeritus Colin Lualdi '17 is a Boston, MA native and a graduate of The Learning Center for the Deaf in Framingham, MA. Deaf since birth, he is fluent in ASL and is committed to promoting cultural understanding between the Deaf and hearing communities. A physics major, Colin has diverse interests that range from entrepreneurship (ask him about SignSchool, the new online ASL learning platform he cofounded) to hunting dark matter in an Italian subterranean laboratory. Deepest, darkest snack preference? Eating Nutella out of the jar.
Officer: Alexandra Palocz
Alexandra hails from the town of Weston, MA, a suburb of Boston. She is currently an absolute beginner in ASL, but has faith that, with lots of practice, her skills will improve. In her free time, she enjoys reading, singing, drawing, and playing the bassoon. Alexandra constantly finds herself interested in way too many things, and, consequently, is not yet sure about her major. Wherever she goes in life, she hopes to keep dreaming, learning, and trying new things.
Officer: David Wu
David Wu is from Charlotte, North Carolina. Still searching for his place in the world, David can occasionally be found hanging around with ballroom dance, the band, and swing club. And sometimes studying too. Sometimes. As an ROTC cadet, David is often spotted dozing off, no, listening intently in his early morning lectures. As an MAE major, David is fond of curling up in bed and crying. Just kidding, that comes later, he is still just a freshman. David is an amateur at ASL and cannot even comprehend what a fist to the forehead means, even though he sees this sign directed at him all the time. David hopes to serve you and the PUASL community however he can and states that no reason to contact him is too trivial.