2012 Post-Secondary Scholarship Winners

ILAA Awards Scholarships to College-Bound Students with Hearing Impairment

The ILAA Post-Secondary Scholarship Committee is pleased to announce this year’s award recipients. The Committee received six completed applications and awarded Kevin Akstulewicz a first place, $1,000 scholarship and Eric Littler a second place $500
scholarship.   

Kevin Akstulewicz, recipient of a $1000 scholarship, recently graduated from Metea Valley High School in Aurora and will be attending the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa where he plans on obtaining an undergraduate degree in Speech Communication Disorders along with a minor in ASL (American Sign Language). He intends on obtaining his AuD and to work with pediatric clients. Kevin lost his hearing at 15 months of age from bacterial meningitis and has utilized a cochlear implant since he was 2 years old.

Eric Littler, recently graduated from Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville and will be attending Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas in the fall. His professional goal is to obtain a degree in biomedical engineering to enhance other peoples’ lives by one day designing and developing prosthetic medical devices. Eric lost his hearing when he was three and a half years old. He underwent surgeries which recovered his conductive hearing loss and utilizes bilateral hearing aids for his sensorineural hearing loss.

Thank you to the following Post Secondary Scholarship Committee members for their hard work: Kristine Erickson, Au.D., Therese Jezuit, Au.D., Ginger Mullin, Au.D., Barbara Murphy, M.A.; Barbara Rezabek, M.A. (Chair); and, Jay Sheehan, PhD. A special thanks goes to Danica Billingsly, Au.D. who put all our forms online which allowed students to access and submit their application material online for the first time! Thank you also to the many ILAA members who continue to support this program by telling their colleagues, patients and students about this scholarship opportunity.