A Place to Succeed
Meet a few of the students, alumni, faculty and staff who have found success at RIT/NTID.
Daniel Pye
A master’s degree in Business Management is Daniel Pye’s goal — that and a good job after graduation. Amassing all that knowledge means this first-year Accounting Technology major is looking at graduating from RIT/NTID in 2011, and that’s fine with him.
“This is a great place to learn what I need to know,” he says. “And Business Management has potential for a good future. My mother is a business person, and watching her, I have an idea of what managing a business is like. I like the idea of being the boss.”
Back home in Chicago, Pye, 19, the only deaf person in his family, has an older brother who goes to Howard University. Pye was mainstreamed at Whitney M. Young High School, and his mother encouraged both him and his brother to go on to college.
Coming from a big city, Pye likes the warmth of the faculty and students at RIT/NTID, the safety of the campus, and the good learning environment. He has friends here already and can really focus on school.
“If you are motivated and enthusiastic and bring a good attitude, classes are easy,” he says.
Outside of class, Pye is a member of Delta Sigma Phi fraternity and enjoys playing basketball, baseball, and soccer. For relaxation, he enjoys building model airplanes and has many in his room at home.
“I like the feel of the concentration that goes into constructing the models,” he says. “It’s a nice way to relax.”
Pye believes the support system for deaf students here is second to none, as is the focus on career education. He particularly looks forward to planning his job strategy, and his idea of success is a job in the banking industry.
To help himself achieve that success, he has a simple rule.
“Don’t care what other people think,” he says. “Have faith in yourself.”
From the Spring/Summer 2006 issue of FOCUS magazine