Nominated by Joan Hewitt, an audiologist for an ‘Oticon Focus On People Award’, Adam Stone of Del Mar, CA came in second place in the Full-Time Student category. The Union-Tribune in San Diego reported in August that Adam, who was diagnosed as profoundly deaf when he was 1 month old, considers himself as an “average 20 year-old college student deciding what to do in life.” “Hewitt says that “Adam has overcome so much with an attitude that is unbelievable. He has such a joy for living…” He hopes to pursue a career in public relations, advertising consulting, international relations or law and used the $500 that came with the award “to pay off some of his debt from a recent trip to Europe.” Adam’s mother describes him as a “great example of someone who has overcome a disability.”

He is currently a junior at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and recently competed in the College Bowl on NTID’s team during the National Association of the Deaf Conference in Washington, D.C. Nancy Palmere, marketing manager at Oticon who manufactures hearing aids, says award winners are so focused on achieving their goals, “it’s like they don’t have an impairment at all.” This was the seventh year for the Oticon Focus on People Awards. More than 200 people were nominated in five categories.