Samantha Chavez

Samantha is a charming 12-year-old girl with bilateral hearing loss who loves school and playing sports. Samantha was diagnosed profoundly deaf at birth after failing her hearing screening test three times. Samantha received her first cochlear implant when she was just a year old and her second at age five.

We started to attend JTC when Samantha was one month old. For the next five years of her life, this wonderful place became our second home.

We were so lucky to be able to attend Demo Home, Friday Family School, parent education, and Preschool. John Tracy provided us with education, guidance, and hope – in addition to beautiful relationships with lots of families who give us the support that we need to navigate in this magical world of kids with hearing loss.

This year, Samantha graduated from elementary school. She has become a hard worker and has learned to achieve her goals and self-advocate. She is a bubbly oral communicator, determined auditory listener, and motivated student!

She is trilingual and can communicate effectively in English, Spanish, and American Sign Language (ASL). She has also become an interpreter for her father, who is deaf and uses no amplification.

Samantha has taught me that, with an intensive early intervention education and support, she is able to have a happy, productive life. Her willingness to learn something new every day will give her a bright future.

We feel so honored and proud of being part of the amazing JTC family. We don’t have enough words to appreciate how this wonderful place had changed our lives!

– Jesus, Patty and Samantha Chavez