A Place to Succeed
Meet a few of the students, alumni, faculty and staff who have found success at RIT/NTID.
Joshua Allmann
“There was never a question of going to college; it was just a matter of where,” says Joshua Allmann, 19, a first-year Computer Science major from Irvine, Calif. He chose RIT/NTID because of the technical focus and support services already in place that he felt he could use to his advantage.
“I almost went to college in California, but felt there was more opportunity for me here,” Josh says. “And I’ve made so many friends since I arrived. This is such a unique place. The fact that there are more than 1,000 deaf and hard-of-hearing students to interact with, in addition to thousands of hearing students, can’t be beat.”
Josh, who lost his hearing after having meningitis at age 2, grew up with a sister and two brothers in a hearing family and went to mainstream schools.
“When I was younger, I would have to say I was lazy, and my parents were always telling me to apply myself,” Josh says. “They wanted me to be independent. Now, I work hard, both at water polo and my courses.”
Josh played water polo all through high school and currently is very involved with the RIT water polo club.
“I really enjoy water polo,” says Josh, “I work hard and practice hard.”
His passion for the sport earned him a goalie spot on the U.S. water polo team at the Deaflympics in Melbourne, Australia. The team took fourth place at the competition.
What was it like to be at the Deaflympics?
Deaflympics? “Really exciting!” he says. For fun, Josh enjoys “chilling” with friends and playing video games. He also is the rush/public relations/social chairman for the Sigma Nu fraternity, and is on the Dean’s List.
For Josh, it all comes back to technology. “I have always been fascinated by it,” he says. “I have learned you can do anything with computers. When I have time, I even program computers outside of class for fun. It’s the challenge that’s satisfying for me, the challenge of problem solving. There’s plenty of that here, so this is a great place for me.”
From the Spring/Summer 2005 issue of FOCUS magazine