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OUR GRANTEES AND ALUMNI

Meet the inspiring students we are proud to call LTZ Foundation grantees and alumni.
 

CURRENT GRANTEE

NEW FOR 2023

Jacob Mackinnon

Jacob Mackinnon, from Massachusetts, will be attending the Rochester Institute of Technology with a goal of becoming a software engineer to “help solve some real-world problems.” Jacob got an A+ in every course except one, while taking honors and AP classes.

CURRENT GRANTEE

Colin Colombo

Colin attends West Virginia University, and currently plans a career in engineering. He hopes to create new designs that will improve the quality of life for many people.

CURRENT GRANTEE

Hannah Goodman

Hannah attends Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA, majoring in theater with plans to become an actress.

CURRENT GRANTEE

Yael Lenga

Yael, from the northern Chicago suburbs, will be attending college at the University of Illinois Chicago Circle, where she plans to major in neuroscience on a pre-medical track.

CURRENT GRANTEE

Christy Ma

Christy, from North Carolina, will be attending UCLA where she will major in physics.

CURRENT GRANTEE

Katie Norton

Katie is attending University of Massachusetts Amherst. She plans to ultimately earn an MBA and work as an advocate for the deaf and hard of hearing. She is a member of the UMass Powerlifting team, and is also currently learning American Sign Language.

Rivka Averbukh

Rivka graduated with her Bachelors of Science in Nursing from Florida Atlantic University, and is currently working part-time as a nurse while full-time in graduate schoo (DNP at FAU)l to further her education.

Evelyn Burnett

Evelyn graduated from the University of Washington, Seattle in Speech Language Pathology, and currently works as an assistive tech specialist at the State of Washington Vocational Rehab Division.

Megan Clancy

Megan is an honors graduate of Gallaudet University and California State University at Long Beach. She ultimately wants to establish her own organization to help other people with hearing losses succeed.

Christine Gerard

Christine graduated from NTID/RIT, receiving her Associates Degree in Applied Computer Technology, specializing in Computer Security. She lives in Rochester, New York and works as an associate at Walmart.

Lindsay Kramer

Lindsay holds a Master of Science in Leadership and Higher Education from John Brown University. She worked as a project manager for Consumer Testing Laboratories, but now she and her husband Jason live in Coffeyville, Kansas, where she is currently staying at home with her cute daughter and son.

Kyle Homer

Kyle attends Brigham Young University where he’s majoring in exercise science in preparation for applying to medical school.

Megan Ketelaar

Megan graduated from RIT with a BS in Software Engineering. She now lives in Boston, where she is a senior software engineer on HubSpot's backend team.

Jose Lopez

Jose, a 2020 graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, holds a Bachelor of Science in Web and Mobile Computing, and is currently excelling as an Integration Engineer at Amazon.

Andrea McGhee

Andrea attended Kent State University. She loves working in the education sector teaching elementary school art in Medina, Ohio.

Erin Rainey

Erin attended William and Mary College with the goal of becoming a teacher. She has taught kindergarten, special education, and intervention in 4 different cities over the past 10 years.

Lauren Roberts

Lauren attended Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.

Andrew Schultz

Andrew is a biomedical engineering major at the State University of New York.

Alison Sweet

Alison graduated from the University of Michigan, and has a master's degree in Public Policy. She has worked for several years at the Institute of Social Research at the University of Michigan.

Jennifer Wickman

Jennifer graduated from California State University, Northridge, with a major in Child and Adolescent Development and a minor in Recreation Management. She is currently a second grade teacher at the Michigan School for the Deaf.

CURRENT GRANTEE

NEW FOR 2023

Morgan Pickeral

Morgan Pickeral, from Georgia, will be attending the North Carolina A&T State University. She will be majoring in nursing, with plans to become a pediatric surgical nurse. Morgan had a 4.02 GPA in high school, while taking a rigorous class load.

CURRENT GRANTEE

Claudia Egido Vinogradov

Claudia hails from San Antonio, and is attending Texas Tech University, where she is studying for a career as an art teacher and professional artist, leveraging her interest in and skill with art.

Safia Khan

Safia Khan, from the western Chicago suburbs, will be attending the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She will be majoring in English with plans for a pre-law track.

CURRENT GRANTEE

Cole Linderman

Cole, from South Carolina, will be attending Gallaudet University where he plans to study Education to become a teacher and a coach.

CURRENT GRANTEE

Blessed Mbogo

Blessed, from Maryland, is attending Gallaudet University. He’s majoring in biology with plans to eventually apply to medical school.

Adrita Arefin

Adrita graduated from RIT with a bachelor's degree computer engineering, and is now in a Master's program in Human-Computer Interaction at RIT.

Alexander Balsley

Alexander attended Northeastern University, majoring in civil engineering with a minor in environmental science. He plans a career in sustainable design engineering.

Gabriel Campbell

Gabriel finished his engineering program at RIT and moved to North Dakota, taking courses in linguistics at the University of North Dakota.

Soraya Clinton

Soraya attended Miami-Dade Community College.

Kellynette Gomez

Kellynette graduated from Gallaudet University with a degree in Social Work. She is currently employed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, and works with individuals with disabilities to obtain jobs and/or training.

Connor Guerrieri

Connor studied computer science as an undergrad, and also volunteered at an animal shelter and took additional online courses to sharpen his network/software security knowledge.

Rachel Kane

Rachel attends Marist College in New York, majoring in political science, with a goal to attend law school and possibly pursue a career in environmental law.

Kylie Knick

Kylie graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor's degree, Cum Laude, majoring in Speech and Hearing Science, and has since earned a doctorate in Audiology from Ball State University. She currently is an audiologist and a private practice owner in Greenville, Eaton, and Celina, Ohio, and has two beautiful daughters.

Kiran Mapes

Kiran is starting her fifth year of a 5-year architecture program at the University of Oregon and is also interning for Gallaudet University Campus Design and Planning department to learn about Deafspace.

Celine Minasian

Celine is from California, and graduated from San Diego State University (SDSU) in May 2020 with a Bachelors of Arts degree in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences with a minor in Gerontology. She is currently a 3rd year audiology doctoral student at CU Boulder with the same goal of becoming a pediatric audiologist.

Reagan Raymer

Reagan attends North Central College, where she is a student athlete (volleyball) studying to become an actuary.

Ashley Romero

Ashley studied at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, before going to nursing school.

Kinza Siddiqui

Kinza attends Texas A&M University. She currently plans to become a biomedical engineer.

Brooke Suskin

Brooke graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in communications, and is now VP, Associate Creative Director for a healthcare advertising agency.

Daniel Xu

Daniel studied Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He works in Boston for a startup focused on using machine learning to help retailers increase their profits.

CURRENT GRANTEE

NEW FOR 2023

Julia Resciniti

Julia Resciniti, from Pennsylvania, will be attending the Rochester Institute of Technology with current plans to become a lawyer or policy director for a political campaign. Julia carried a 4.38 GPA while taking numerous honors and AP classes during high school.

CURRENT GRANTEE

Jasmean Fernando

Jasmean, from Staten Island, New York, attends Rutgers University in New Brunswick pursuing a double major in Computer Science and Cognitive Science, and plans to continue working in this area for her career work.

CURRENT GRANTEE

Madison Lein

Madison, from Edwardsville, Illinoi, is attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she’s majoring in Biology; she plans to go to medical school in the future.

Alexandra Lococo

Alexandra Lococo from Chelmsford, MA, will be attending the College of Holy Cross with a goal of becoming a practicing psychologist.

Anna Nack

Anna Nack from Sterling, VA will be attending the Rochester Institute of Technology with plans to major in both Biomed Engineering and public policy.

Sofia Assab

Sofia graduated Summa Cum Laude from Columbia University in 2022. She is now co-founding a decentralized technology start up.

Connor Boike

Connor graduated from U of Michigan Stephen M Ross School of Business in May, 2020, and was married in July. He continues to run his businesses -Wrestle Boutique and Funky Flickr Boyz, full time and is in the process of launching a third wrestling shoe brand.

Kayla Campbell

Robb Dooling

Robb majored in Computer Science and minored in Writing Studies at RIT, and now is a technical editor at the U.S. Department of State, covering all countries and all issues. In his free time, he is an elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in northeast Washington, DC.

Eleanor Greer

Eleanor attended the University of Illinois with plans to become a speech pathologist or elementary school teacher. Her extracurricular activities focused on helping and working with young children.

Devorah Hayman

Devorah graduated from Arizona State University with a BSEE in Computer Systems Engineering with Information Assurance concentration. She works as a Technical Consulting Engineer for Intel.

Tania Karas

Tania lived and worked as a reporter in New York after graduation from Northwestern University. She is now an independent reporter in Greece, where she traveled to complete a U.S. Fulbright Fellowship.

Maya Liddell

Maya attended George Washington University, where she was an active member of the APO service fraternity and the PAD pre-law fraternity and intern at the Washington, D.C. International Film Festival.

David Marmor

Emma O'Neil-Dietel

Emma is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is an alum of Smith College '22 where she studied World Literatures, Spanish, and Archives Studies. She teaches creative writing at Writopia Lab and works at Ford's Theatre.

Susan Reed

The first in her family to attend college, Susan entered into the nursing program at her school. (NOTE: Susan's name is changed for this bio.)

Mara Scallon

Mara graduated from Northeastern University with a degree in environmental science. She currently works as an international bicycle tour guide.

Michael Slane

Michael is attending Gallaudet University, and plans to graduate in 2021. He is majoring in Communication Studies and minoring in Family Child Studies.

Christine Thurber

Christine graduated from Assumption College and has a Master's in Conservation Biology and Applied Ecology. She works as a Plant Protection and Quarantine Officer for the USDA to survey for the Spotted Lanternfly (an exotic pest that causes damage to trees and agriculture in Pennsylvania and other states).

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