A Place to Succeed
Meet a few of the students, alumni, faculty and staff who have found success at RIT/NTID.
Matthew Jenkins
By studying organisms and analyzing their structures and functions down to a molecular level, students like Biotechnology major Matthew Jenkins find the seeds of success in a balanced approach to life.
“School is my first priority,” Jenkins says. “Through a balanced life, dreams and goals in college can be achieved. I am successful because I am comfortable where I am here at RIT, and I have some fun on the side, too.”
Fun for this Springfield, Mass., native is competitive swimming. He was a member of RIT’s men’s swimming and diving team, and he participated in two Deaflympics, one in Rome, Italy, in 2001, and one in Melbourne, Australia, in 2005. With strength in both butterfly and breaststroke, Jenkins has had numerous first- and second-place finishes in intermediate medley events toward team victories for RIT during his collegiate athletics career.
Equally aggressive with his academic studies, Jenkins graduated in May, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Biotechnology from RIT’s College of Science with high honors—not surprising, since his name has appeared on the Dean’s List 10 times since 2002.
“The amazing services that RIT/NTID provided to me enabled me to take advantage of a diversity of experiences,” says Jenkins.
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my classes, coops, and working in the labs. I’m ready now to go to work in the biotechnology field, hopefully for the federal government, and start graduate school as well.”
From the Spring/Summer 2006 issue of FOCUS magazine