Sam's Hearing Life: September 2007

But life is going pretty good!

My senior year has been great so far - I have straight A's and I'm enjoying my classes so much this year! I've been so busy lately between clubs, sports, applying to colleges, SATs, ACTs, and what-not. My best friend, Zoe, and I go to the school football games every friday and we still go swing dancing on the weekends. Last Saturday we got tickets to the Thrashers Hockey Game - which was awesome!! I love hockey!! :D This week is also Homecoming at our school so this week has been crazy with getting ready for that! Our game is Friday night and then the dance is Saturday night! YAY! I'm so excited!! :)

My brother is also doing good - he's enjoying his sophomore year. His implant is doing really good too - he had a rough start from the new implant but now he's understanding really well and calls me on the phone like all the time! :) So that definitly shows he's improving!! He's also gotten really big in ROTC. Him and his friend, Colton, are actually going to be performing an Armed Expidition Routine (sp??) for the Drill Team Competition in the spring! And in case if you don't know what that is... its when a team of ROTC boys (in this case 2 boys) do a routine with different calls and steps with the "gun" and spinning it around and doing all these tricks with it. So it should be pretty awesome to see him out there!! :) He's also playing second base man for the ROTC softball team! His tournament is in like 2 weeks! GO JONATHAN!!!

So I'm in the process of applying to colleges. I've narrowed it down to my top three which are North Georgia College and State University (NGCSU), Berry College, and Georgia College and State University (GCSU). I've had my senior meeting with my counselor which was pretty exciting talking about colleges and life after high school and graduation! I was pretty excited about that meeting but my mom was pretty sad! haha :) So I've been writing my essays for the colleges and I thought I'd post one up here and see what yall think!

Here is one of my essays:

Topic for Freshman Essay:

“As a part of our mission to provide students with a liberal arts education, Georgia College & State University strives to create an atmosphere that instills in students exceptional qualities of mind and character including respect for human diversity and individuality. Given your own individual background, life experiences, and personal identity, how will you contribute to the overall diversity of the student body at GCSU?”

College Essay Rough Draft:

No matter who we are, where we’re from, or what our backgrounds are, we all come together to achieve one common goal: a goal of overcoming all obstacles and achieving success. In achieving our goal, we must all work together bringing diversity with different backgrounds and points of view about life, to achieve success and to make a difference. With my background of being born with a disability, a passion of helping or mentoring others and the motivation of being an active member in my society will help bring diversity to the student body of Georgia College and State University (GCSU).
Over the years, I’ve had to overcome my disability of being hearing impaired. I was born profoundly deaf and went through Auditory-Verbal Therapy to learn how to hear and speak and to become an independent communicator without the use of sign language and lip reading. My journey wasn’t over with just hearing aids and years of therapy. In 2005, my hearing started to deteriorate and I went through major surgery to get a Cochlear Implant. The cochlear implant is like a more “high-tech implantable hearing aid” which helps me to hear even better. But along with getting the new cochlear implant, I had to relearn sounds all over again while I was still going to high school, making good grades, and continuing to be an active member in various clubs.
After going through a major surgery, I realized I could help others who are going through the same situations. So I decided to work in the Operating room as a “VolunTEEN” at the Atlanta Children’s Hospital, which I have done for several years. Working there allowed me to help other families deal with emotions that come with having their child go through a major surgery. Even though I volunteered my free time at the Children’s Hospital, I also kept an updated online Blogspot journal (www.samshearinglife.blogspot.com), entitled “Sam’s Hearing Life.” I posted about my experiences while going through surgery and about the process of relearning sounds all over again. This was designed to help mentor other families who are in the same situation as I was, who also choose to become independent communicators me.
During my high school years, I realized that it’s important to not only maintain a good grade point average but to also be an active member in clubs that support community service, such as Key Club and Girl Scouts. As a member I help make my community a better place by cleaning local parks to make it fun and safe for neighborhood children, package up food with Project Open Hands for AIDS victims, and I also help clean local pet shelters such as Paws Atlanta. I also use my leadership skills, organizational skills and creativity to help with school committees such as Homecoming and Prom.
I believe what makes a unique college experience is one with a diverse group of people and backgrounds who all come together to achieve success by working together and helping others. And because of my well rounded background and desire to overcome my disability, I believe I can adjust to any environment, such as GCSU. I would come with enthusiasm and dedication to be able to excel academically as well as to share my experiences to help others overcome their struggles from dealing with a new environment, challenging personalities, and a new way of life away from the comforts of home. I also believe that my passion for helping others and being involved will allow me to continue to be involved with new community service clubs, such as Circle K, to make GCSU and Milledgeville a better place and to be able to call it my new home.

So I hope for the best and just wait and see what the colleges say!! Gosh the wating part is the worst part ever!! eeeeek!

But yeah.... I don't know what else to say at this point. Jonathan and I are both doing great in school, clubs, and with our implants. This year, Jonathan and I are also actually officers for Key Club which is pretty fun becuase it makes us look important! He's 10th grade representative and I'm Bulliten Editor. :)

Oh by the way - Jonathan also just got his liscense this weekend and he's going to get his motorcycle permit this weekend! YIKES! So he's pretty excited about being able to drive...but one thing he's going to have to remember - the second car is MY CAR and I GET PRIORITY!!! hehe :D

Here are some updated pictures of us...

Me, My Mom, and my Brother at a Kareokee party with some family friends!! :)