Congrats to Jeff Shaul

Deaf Indian Hill senior scholastic success

INDIAN HILL - Indian Hill High School senior Jeff Shaul has been deaf all his life, but he did so well scholastically that all three colleges he applied to accepted him.

The 18-year-old Kenwood resident said the advice he would give other students with disabilities is the same advice he would give any student.

"While students with disabilities have vastly different needs, I think anyone who is willing to put in the extra time will succeed," Shaul said. "Don't take the path of least resistance."
Shaul said he is deaf as a result of a congenital condition.

"As a result of my deafness, I became much more of a hands-on and visual student," he said.
"Insofar as a student, I don't really feel that much different from the others since I use an interpreter provided by the county.

"My teachers have been great about it ever since. Whenever the interpreter isn't with me, I communicate fairly easily with teachers and other students by writing on the whiteboard.
"Aside from the interpreter and speech therapy to improve my pronunciation, I don't have or need any help.

"I'm the only deaf student here and that can indeed be very isolating, but this is not the case thanks to my parents, friends and Indian Hill."

Shaul is a National Merit Program Commended Student.
For seven years he's wrestled and thrown the discus and shot put in track. He's involved in Latin Club and INTERalliance, a technology club.

Last fall, Shaul volunteered at St. Rita's haunted house.
"If you were there," he said, "I was one of the lumberjacks."

Shaul applied to and was accepted by Rochester Institute of Technology, the University of Cincinnati and Columbia University.

"In the end, I decided on RIT in Rochester, N.Y., to study bioengineering and possibly apply to medical school after that," he said.