I was born in West Chicago, Illinois to Timothy and Mary Halterman. I was the first child of three, and was born hearing until I became 13 months when I got meningitis. I almost died, but fortunately I survived and I became profoundly deaf and lost all of my language skills within two weeks after getting meningitis. My mom learned sign language to help me learn how to communicate as soon as she found out I became deaf. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be at where I am today. Kelly, my sister, was born when I was 3 and half years old. She learned how to sign before she could talk and my mom was frustrated because she refused to talk. Of course, eventually she spoke. Kelly and I have been best friends ever since.

When I became 10 years old, my family moved to Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It was hard for me to leave all of my good childhood friends in Illinois, but I made new friends in Wisconsin. In seventh grade, I got my first German Shepard dog. Her name was Betsy. She died two years later since she was the runt of the litter. We thought we could help her grow healthy, but she was always sick. We got another German Shepard dog after Betsy died. His name was Henry and he was very healthy. We got Henry about the same time as my youngest sister, Grace, was born.

Grace was a very beautiful baby and still is. I have many memories of watching her grow up since she was born my freshman year in high school. All through high school, I knew I wanted to go to college without doubts in my mind. I got accepted into three different colleges: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and Winona State University. I decided to go to Winona State University because it isn’t too far away from home even though it’s a 70 minutes drive from home to WSU. I also heard the psychology program was really good there as well. I decided to major in psychology because it has been my dream ever since I was young to become a counselor for the deaf. Winona State University is fun, especially my computer professor Todd Frahm!!!!

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