The Right Fit

I was confident in identifying RIT as my first-choice college. I was attracted to the sense of community and a culture that accepts everyone for who they are. I was sold on the amazing co-op opportunities; having a place where I could continue to develop my interests in art, coding, and robotics; and the reduced tuition for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. I applied Early Decision, and  I’m so glad I did. Once I got my Early Decision acceptance, I felt a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders, and I enjoyed the rest of my senior year a lot more knowing that I didn’t have to worry about where I’d be going to college. At RIT. I’ve had the opportunity to meet more deaf people than I have in my entire life, and because of the access services I get I can follow and understand what’s being said in the classroom. It’s been such a positive experience.

The Philippines does not have the options that America offers. I started my education in a college called Del La Salle-College of Saint Benilde where there was a small deaf program. I received a scholarship to attend RIT, and since I’ve been in America my life has changed. RIT/NTID has a big deaf friendly community, and the university offers so many resources unlike home. I have my associate degree in design and imaging technology and I am working toward my BFA in visual media in RIT’s College of Art and Design. Aside from education, I got the opportunity to immerse myself into the culture here by joining several clubs and camps: Asian Deaf Club, Student Life Team, Explore Your Future, Tech Boyz/Girlz, and more. RIT/NTID is the right fit for me because it has the major, resources, and community that I need to succeed. I was able to land an internship with Center of Disability Rights because of the resources that RIT/NTID has for me. I plan to bring back what I learned here home to the Philippines and hope to inspire others there to pursue higher education.

I grew up in New York City, Massachusetts and Connecticut, and was mainstreamed. I grew up in an oral deaf community and did not learn American Sign Language until college. I didn’t know deaf colleges existed until an admission counselor from RIT came to my high school and explained the resources that were available. I decided to go to a community college for two years where I graduated, and then felt ready to go to RIT because of its great support system, deaf community, and it had a blend of everything I was already familiar with. I made friends from different backgrounds who were familiar with situations like mine, and they along with RIT in general made me feel like I am capable of doing big things. That confidence led me to join the Latin American Deaf Club, NTID Student Congress, and also the NTID Center on Cognition and Language. RIT is the right fit for me because it feels familiar, gives me the tools to overcome the challenges I face, and gives me the support that I need.

I started off in a mainstream program until the third grade when I then attended the Louisiana School for the Deaf. I first heard about RIT/NTID through their call for student competitors for the NTID Math Competition. When the time came for me to choose a college, I had multiple staff and RIT/NTID alumni tell me about RIT, so I decided to do some research. With that research, I found that RIT/NTID was filled with an assortment of diverse individuals, people from many cultures, a mixture of deaf and hearing, along with interpreting students and interpreters. I wanted to work in the medical field and saw how the MIS program at RIT could bring me there. I’m involved in a number of clubs and organizations on campus such as NTID Student Assembly, Sigma Nu Fraternity, Latin American Deaf Club, Ebony Club, and have been involved in several theater performances – with “Cabaret” being my favorite! RIT/NTID is the right fit for me because of the large spectrum of creative arts, accessibility, cultural diversity, social life, and opportunities for professional growth.

When I was looking at colleges I was searching for a place where I could continue to play competitive women’s hockey, specifically on a Division I team. I really didn’t consider the academic side because I didn’t think colleges differed in how they accommodated hard-of-hearing students. But when I looked at RIT and learned about the access and support services available for hard-of-hearing students like me, I instantly knew I wanted to go to college here. RIT is already set up to accommodate hard-of-hearing and deaf students and I knew I had to go here. Now that I’m a student-athlete here at RIT it’s been a great fit for me because everyone is accepting and respectful, regardless of my hearing loss. I don’t feel like a bystander and I don’t feel out of place. With the guidance and acceptance I get here at RIT, it has shaped me into the person I want to become, and helped me realize I want to be a better person.

Access services, strong academic rankings, having a criminal justice major, and opportunities to grow my leadership skills to make a difference in the world were important to me when searching for college. But finding a place where I could connect with other people like me was most important because growing up attending a mainstream high school was isolating at times. I knew I could have gone to other colleges and been successful, but RIT had all of the things on my checklist. RIT is awesome. I am successful in my academics, and have flourished as a student leader. I served as president of NTID's Ebony Club, and won multiple awards including NTID's Outstanding Leadership, Dale Carnegie's Future is Bright and M.O.C.H.A. (Men of Color, Honor and Ambition) Fitness Man of the Year. I also was a member of RIT’s wrestling team, and performed in a play presented by NTID’s Performing Arts Theater. Here I found a place to be me, and become the best leader I can be.

I didn’t have a lot of knowledge about the deaf world growing up. So, when I was in high school and struggling with my self-identity, one of my goals was to learn more about my “deaf side.” I decided to attend a community college first because I didn’t know what I wanted to study. That college had a deaf program and I fully immersed myself into the Deaf community. This greatly influenced my decision to continue my education at RIT. RIT is the perfect fit for me to get an outstanding education because it bridges the gap between the deaf and hearing worlds, so I can socially grow in both, and challenges me to step out of my comfort zone and try new things. I have both deaf and hearing friends from other countries and cultures who show me a bigger perspective of the world and life itself.

RIT is absolutely the perfect fit for me. I grew up mainstreamed as the only hard-of-hearing person I knew, and I was very self-conscious of it during high school. Coming to RIT's diverse and accepting community, meeting people with similar backgrounds as me for the first time, and learning ASL and connecting with the positive sides of my hearing loss has completely improved my mindset. On top of the perfect social atmosphere for me, getting access services in my classes, meetings and events is extremely helpful and easy to request. I believe I would have been happy at any college. But when I think about what it would be like as one of the few students with hearing loss at another college, and having to figure out access services alone and explain my hearing loss to peers, I become even more thankful for all of the ways that RIT/NTID has helped me grow and flourish.