Online Companion: The Complete Student, Achieving Success in College and Beyond

Chapter 11: Say It, Hear It

Case in Point: Princess Bempong

Her name implies royalty, and in a sense, Princess Bempong is just that: clearly, a person who rises above others. In 2003, Princess Bempong was named valedictorian of Dallas, Texas' Samuell High School. Princess and her family emigrated from the West African nation of Ghana in the early 1980s. Her parents, deaf from birth, found modest hospital jobs and had four children, of whom Princess was the eldest. All were born deaf, too.

In her senior year, Princess took advanced classes in calculus, physics, English, Spanish, and U.S. government. Nothing below an "A" ever appeared on her report card. Her cumulative average of 95.12 placed her No. 1 in a class of 300. "She's endowed from God," says Michelle Hamm, Princess' interpreter and bus driver. "She's also a perfectionist. She eats up knowledge like Pac-Man eats up those dots."

Princess says she doesn't want to be identified as the first deaf valedictorian of a public high school in Dallas. She's just a regular girl who's proud of her parents for the sacrifices they made in coming to this country. "I want people to know that deaf people have the ability to do things and the potential to be successful," Princess says. "I want them to know that I'm a humble, intelligent, friendly, and fun-loving deaf person."

In 2004, Princess entered Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., a comprehensive, multipurpose institution of higher education for deaf and hard of hearing citizens of the United States and the world.