Jenna Crowe

Staff Writer

Going deaf is bound to make a huge impact on anyone’s life, perhaps even more so when a future in music seemed certain. For sophomore Anna Curet, however, going deaf her senior year of high school helped lead her in the right direction.

Curet was raised in Moscow, Idaho in a hearing family. She was first exposed to American Sign Language two years ago.

“My best friend was deaf before I was,” Curet said. “He went deaf when he was three years old.”

Curet met him during a speech class her junior year at Moscow High and was intrigued by his interpreter. It was at this moment that Curet saw ASL as a great way to communicate, and began learning ASL to talk to the deaf sophomore that became her best friend.

This intro to ASL came in handy when she went deaf a year later.

“We don’t really know why,” Curet said. “It kind of just happened.”

Going deaf her senior year forced Curet to reassess her future plans, specifically her major. Before going deaf, Curet’s plan was to graduate early and become a music major with an education emphasis. It was at this point that Curet began looking into audiology as an alternative.

“The audiology program is why I came to ISU,” Curet said.

After losing her hearing to an unknown cause, Curet became interested in what exactly causes hearing loss, as well as ways to prevent it altogether.

With a degree in audiology, Curet hopes to work closely with patients to determine if they do in fact have hearing loss as well as help plan a course of treatment. She also has plans to research the causes and prevention of hearing loss.

With the odds stacked against her, Curet refused to let losing her hearing stop her from doing one thing she loves – playing the clarinet.

Curet is a member of the ISU marching band and has played the clarinet for years. She loves music so much that when she’s not studying or working out, she’s playing her clarinet.

“Band is my life,” Curet said. “It’s fun to hang out with other people who love what I do, and it makes my soul happy.”

Playing in the marching band is not the only thing that makes her unique. To many of her close friends, she is also known as “Gingersnap.” According to Curet, the nickname originates from a rough day in high school where she began snapping at people that were annoying her. Thus, the nickname “Gingersnap” was born.

While Curet might have the next couple of years planned out, she has no idea what she will do after she graduates from ISU.

“I’m not sure what I want to do yet, but I would like to stay in Idaho,” Curet said.

One thing she is sure of is that deaf people should not be segregated from the hearing. She is a firm believer in the fact that people who are deaf can do anything that hearing people can do, and Curet has already proven this during her first few of months at ISU.