Nina Cerminaro is graduate of South Brunswick High School
By Jennifer Larkin, Special Writer
Nina Cerminaro, once a member of the National Honor Society, overcame profound hearing loss to graduate from South Brunswick High School, according to Joel Strasser, trustee of the Hearing Loss Association of New Jersey.
”She earned admission to the freshman class at Clemson University and won a prestigious college scholarship award from the Hearing Loss Association of New Jersey,” he said.
The association has begun to accept applications for its next round of scholarships to be awarded for the upcoming school year, according to Mr. Strasser.
”Even though I am hearing impaired,” Nina said, “I use my experiences to make me a better person. I am more courageous, more determined, more headstrong and more compassionate than I probably would be if I had not been born with this disability.
”I stand up for myself. I make my needs known. I self-advocate. I am more understanding of others and more willing to listen to their problems and offer advice and help them. I am very outgoing. I love to try new things and participate in whatever I can.
”While many may think that being hearing impaired detracts from me, it actually makes up a big part of who I am, a great part.”
HLA-NJ President Linda Schaab said, “We were proud to honor Nina’s achievements with our scholarship. Diagnosed with profound hearing loss at birth and aided by both a hearing aid and a cochlear implant, she went on to graduate from South Brunswick High School with grades that won her admission to the National Honor Society in addition to maintaining an active schedule on her high school’s varsity field hockey and lacrosse teams.”
She added, “It is difficult for people with normal hearing to realize how hard it is to do what Nina has succeeded in doing. Nina has mastered both lip reading and American Sign Language and was able to adjust to using a cochlear implant, a surgically implanted electronic device that provides sound and helps her understand speech. But nothing can make hearing loss go away or give her what would be regarded as ‘normal’ hearing.
”From the classroom to the field hockey and lacrosse fields, Nina has faced a daily struggle to understand teachers, coaches and classmates and to overcome the stigma that is too often attached to serious hearing loss.”
Nina is finishing her freshman year at Clemson University and said she decided early on to not let herself be viewed as someone with a “disability.”
In her high school days, rather than being a deaf high school student, she said she was a high school student “who just happened to be deaf.”
”The typical response when asked to describe oneself would be to begin listing a variety of character traits, such as kind or compassionate,” Nina said. “I always begin with my disability because it has made me who I am and is the obstacle that I deal with on a daily basis.”
She added, “People believe that the hardest part of being deaf lies with the fact that they cannot hear the way everyone else does; hear the same sound as everyone else. They would be right, but only to a certain extent.
”The hardest part of being deaf is the mental and emotional hardships I encounter through social ostracism. In large groups, it is extremely difficult for me to keep up with the flow of conversation. Topics change rapidly, and whoever is speaking changes just as quickly.
”When someone makes a joke, and everyone laughs, I feel left out. I have to constantly ask people to repeat things that have been said. However, no one is very accommodating for long because repeatedly interrupting the conversation for a recap is often annoying.”
According to Nina’s school counselor, Carla Mail, “Nina has maintained an incredible balance between her activities and academics while being a healthy, well-adjusted teenager. She is active in both our high school’s and township’s community. She is a student athlete who has played both field hockey and lacrosse. Currently, she helps to coach an indoor, elementary level field hockey team.
”Nina volunteers at family fitness nights at her younger cousin’s elementary school. An active member of her church, Nina spends extensive amounts of time helping her church community put together gift baskets for the elderly.
”Last summer, Nina spent three weeks at the Cornell Summer Program learning the subject of animal science. She now realizes that a career in this area will suit her interest and personality.
” In the competitive Class of 2012, she was a standout among her peers,” Ms. Mail said.
One of her teachers, Jeffrey Tuliszewski, said, “Nina is a student who is self-motivated with fierce determination and work ethic. She is a young woman with profound hearing loss, but has never let her disability affect her academic performance or her social interactions.
”She is very good at advocating for herself in an approachable and mature way to ensure that she is able to succeed when challenges present themselves. She is willing to routinely leave her comfort zone and take academic risks and is an active participant in her own learning.”
According to Mr. Strasser, HLA-NJ works to create awareness of hearing loss issues in New Jersey and is dedicated to developing a statewide network to address outreach, advocacy legislative and equal access issues that impact people with hearing loss.
”Despite my hardships in social situations and school and daily life, I have managed to not only survive, but thrive,” Nina said. “I am true to myself, engaging in activities that truly bring me happiness.”
For information about HLA-NJ, the New Jersey state affiliate of the Hearing Loss Association of America, contact ms. Schaab at [email protected] or visit www.hearingloss-nj.org or www.hearingloss.org.