Barnhart Memorial Scholarship Winner

By Joanne Sammer

 

     Carlstadt, N.J., June 10, 2009 – Any high school student who takes multiple advanced placement courses, edits the yearbook and is voted class valedictorian is most assuredly deserving of the highest praise. When that student has been dealing with near-total hearing loss since the age of six months and accomplishes all of these feats in a mainstream public high school, even greater accolades are in order.

     That is the story of Krystyna Makowski, the 18-year-old Carlstadt woman who has been awarded the 2009 Barnhart Memorial Scholarship by the Association of Late-Deafened Adults-Garden State chapter (ALDA-GS). The decision was announced by Diana Fanuel, chair of the ALDA-GS scholarship committee.

    Despite being diagnosed at the age of six months with near-total hearing loss in both ears, Ms. Makowski has had a stellar academic career with advanced placement courses in English, biology, and history and a long record of involvement in school and community activities.

     “Ms. Makowski was chosen from a group of three deserving finalists,” said Fanuel. “She not only has overcome the very real challenges facing all deaf and hearing-impaired students but has excelled as a student and as an emerging leader in her community.” For example, it is extremely rare for deaf or hard-of-hearing high school students to take the number of advanced placement courses that Ms. Makowski has successfully completed.

     Ms. Makowski will be attending Montclair State University this fall. After completing her undergraduate education, she plans to pursue a graduate degree in biology in preparation for a career in education for the hearing impaired.

     The Barnhart Memorial Scholarship is named in honor of the late Jerry Barnhart, PhD., the founder and first president of ALDA-GS. The scholarship is awarded annually to deaf or hard-of-hearing residents of New Jersey who have been accepted at an accredited college, university, or trade school.

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 ALDA-Garden State, a chapter of ALDA, Inc, an international organization, is a non-profit association devoted to the needs of late-deafened adults throughout the state of New Jersey. Our members grew up with normal hearing, but later became either hard-of-hearing or deaf. Most of us live in Central and Northern NJ, but all are welcome. Our gatherings are usually held in East Brunswick, but we’re flexible.  We arrange dinner and captioned theater outings from time to time and we have other outings on occasion. We connect by e-mail, listserv, and our quarterly newsletter. Our directory makes it possible for members to learn of other members in their area for purposes of socialization.

    We advocate, educate, provide supportive outreach, offer scholarships, and simply have fun together. We welcome all with hearing loss, and deaf/blind people. We communicate by whatever method works, be it sign language, speech-reading, assistive devices, note-writing or any combination thereof. Some of us use hearing aids or cochlear implants.

    At ALDA-GS, all feel welcome, no longer alone, accepting of each other. Meetings and workshops are fully accessible to our varied needs by means of Sign Language Interpreters, captioning (CART) and Assistive Listening Devices.

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Our Mission

The Association of Late-Deafened Adults is committed to support, educate, and advocate on behalf of late-deafened adults. ALDAns can no longer understand speech without visual clues or rely on their hearing as a means of receptive communication. Instead, ALDAns must depend on assistive devices and other modes of communications, such as speech-reading, sign language, and text reading.