WATCH: Viral Video from Fremont Deaf School Camp's Interpretation of Pharrell Williams' 'Happy'

Rosa Lee Timm, American Sign Language (ASL) teacher, and Zahra Chauhan, a 13-year-old student at the California School for the Deaf in Fremont, have been in the spotlight the last several weeks because of their involvement in creating the viral ASL video of Pharrell Williams’ song, “Happy.” Even Williams tweeted his approval of this ASL version of his song.

Zahra was one of 24 students at Camp Mark Seven’s Deaf Film Camp who produced the entire video, including writing the script, set production, lighting, and editing as part of their two-week camp experience in upstate New York. Zahra has wanted to make movies since she was very young and took the opportunity to be part of this camp experience specifically designed for Deaf students to learn the art of filmmaking.

Rosa Lee Timm, part of the production team and one of the two leading song performers in the video along with Azora Telford. The video ends with Rosa Lee signing “Time to turn off the lights” after closing her laptop. The video now has 798,305 views. Several articles about this video were published in People, Today, Time, and Huffington Post.

In an article from Today.com, Rosa Lee said “Imagine what this did for them (the campers) when they went back home to their everyday life, their community and school? Some said their peers had low expectations of them, and now they look magnificent!”

Also in Today.com, Zahra said “I loved getting involved in the editing of the video. That was probably my favorite part, the filming and the actual editing of it. It was a lot of work, but I loved it,” she said.

To view the YouTube video: Click here to view the Happy video in ASL

—Information submitted by California School for the Deaf

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