2013 Winners

CHHA/CHHAF Foundation Scholarship 2013 was awarded to Sébastien Chiasson from Moncton, NB who will be starting his Masters Degree this fall. Sébastien was born completely deaf in his right ear, and severe to profound in his left ear due to fetal rubella. He functioned well for twenty years with a hearing aid, but in 2006 he lost his residual hearing due to a sudden sensorineural hearing loss and was then fitted with a cochlear implant. Sébastien is now working toward co-authoring a book on a historical narrative of the education of the francophone deaf in New Brunswick.

The Frank Algar Memorial Scholarship was created in 2004 by the Algar Family in memory of Frank Algar who was one of the founding members of CHHA and provided dedication and outstanding service for many years to the work of the association. The 2013 Scholarship was awarded to Jesse Kazemir of Port Coquitlam, BC. Jesse has been wearing hearing aids since he was 2 months old. As a result of growing up with hearing loss, he is committed to supporting the deaf and hard of hearing community. Jesse has worked with organizations such as the BC Family Hearing Resource Society, the BC Early Hearing Program and BC Hands and Voices. He has sat on various panels and shared his experiences with families and the professionals who serve those families.

The Dr. Charles A. Laszlo Scholarship created in 2007 by Dr. Doreen Laszlo to honour the commitment and work of her husband on behalf of hard of hearing people. The 2013 Scholarship went to Alyssa Kavanaugh of London, ON.Alyssa has completed her first year of a two year graduate program in Audiology at the University of Western Ontario. Her plans for the future are to finish her Masters in Audiology and move back home to Nova Scotia to find employment as a clinical audiologist. Alyssa hopes to one day work in a hospital setting working with a variety of both children and adults.

The MED-EL Scholarship is the newest scholarship recently created early in 2013. The 2013 Scholarship went to Hannah Brown of Winnipeg, MB. Hannah is 17 years old and has career aspirations of becoming an audiologist. She would love to one day go to Africa in order to provide hearing aids to communities where access to technology and hearing aids do not exist. One personal highlight for Hannah is that she advocated for the “Universal Newborn Screening” by speaking passionately to over 500 people at the “Culinary Classic for Kids” fundraiser for the Central Speech and Hearing Clinic. She has also advocated in Manitoba for government support for “cochlear implant” upgrades.