Born hearing in Brazil, Andre became deaf when he was six weeks old. He received a cochlear implant when he was 12. He moved to Miami in 2000 before moving to Ohio with his parents, brother and sister. He didn’t learn sign language until he came to RIT/NTID. He is able to follow along in class with captioning.
Students on campus look up to Andre – not just because he is 6-feet, 10-inches tall. He’s made the Dean’s List since his arrival at RIT/NTID and is a center on the RIT basketball team which he earned as a surprise walk-on after a tryout.
Andre Sonnenberg
- Where I'm from
- Loveland, OH
- Age
- 22
- Year Level
- 2
- Major
- Mechanical Engineering
- Why did you come to RIT/NTID?
- Because RIT/NTID can provide classroom support to me. And I want to get a degree in mechanical engineering which will help me get a good job. RIT also helps me improve my English and speech therapy. And I enjoy being on the basketball team!
- Best thing about college so far
- Making the basketball team has been great. I have made a lot of friends. There is also a lot of help from everyone - teamwork for homework.
- Best thing to do off-campus in Rochester
- Go to the bookstore, mall, movies, nature parks and eat!
- People may be surprised to know...
- That I was born in Brazil and speak Portuguese. I was born Brazilian and now have U.S. citzenship.
- Favorite food
- Brazil's food, seafood, chicken and turkey.
- Favorite movie
- Star Trek; The Bourne Ultimatum; Titanic
- Favorite sport
- Judo, soccer, working out and basketball
- Clubs
- RIT basketball team
- Hobbies/interests
- Space, reading, astronomy, video games and skydiving
- Dream job
- Working as an engineer at NASA, Space X or Boeing
- Where will you be five years from now?
- I hope to be working at NASA on the mission to Mars.
- What would you like to tell the world?
- We should work together to develop space exploration and expand into our solar system.
- Advice for incoming RIT/NTID students
- Failure is not an option!