Caroline

When Camden County College president Dr. Phyllis Della Vecchia addressed CCC's 1,085-member Class of 2003 during the college's 35th annual commencement exercises, her aim was to inspire.

"Do not be afraid to lean into the wind," Della Vecchia said. "Do not be afraid to take risks and work hard."

Though not presented with these words until the May 17 ceremony, at least one of the day's graduates already was living by them. Erin Wingenroth has had to work harder than most to make the risks she's taken pay off.

Wingenroth, 32, lost her hearing to a bout of meningitis when she was just three months old and communicates primarily through American Sign Language. Although a good student in both deaf and mainstream schools as a youngster, she never planned to attend college. The only reason she even visited Camden County College's Blackwood Campus one day in 2000 was to see if its South Jersey Evaluation and Employment Services for the Deaf could help her find a new job. As the single mother of four young children, she knew that she needed something better than the hotel housekeeping position she then held.

"They evaluated my skills, and then they really encouraged me to attend CCC through the Mid-Atlantic Post Secondary Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing," Wingenroth recalls. "I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to juggle things like homework and making dinner for my kids, but I decided to give it a try."

Support from family, friends and the college allowed Wingenroth to excel in her studies as a full-time mathematics major. She became CCC's first deaf student to earn membership in the Phi Theta Kappa international honor society and was awarded both the Camden County College Scholarship for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students and the Madlyn D. Thompson Memorial Scholarship for single mothers.

Wingenroth also found her calling. Following in the footsteps of her older sister, who teaches in Pennsylvania, she decided to become an educator -- but for the deaf. To gain practical experience to supplement her academic program, she accepted a part-time job as a classroom assistant in the math department. On a few occasions when the professor was away, she even delivered lessons to hearing students using an interpreter to vocalize her signing.

"The students all showed such a positive attitude about it," Wingenroth remembers. "Some seemed amazed that I wasn't afraid to answer their questions, and another said that she wished I was her teacher all of the time."

Although she's completed her associate's degree in math, Wingenroth will attend Camden County College again this fall to take additional education courses in preparation for transfer into a baccalaureate program. She won't be working as a classroom assistant, though. Instead, she has accepted a position as a program specialist with CCC's South Jersey Evaluation and Employment Services for the Deaf (the same program that helped her here) so that she can help others find a future like the one she's found for herself.