hear, just like everyone—only a little differently. Mr. Lewis’ geometry
When I was nine years old, I received a cochlear class, and this very old,
implant, which is—in the simplest possible terms—a old man approached
very small wire of electrodes that replace the broken me from over the hill,
hair cells in the cochlea of the inner ear. Basically, like the Ghost of
you can hear because the hair cells in your inner ear Christmas Past. He
vibrate when exposed to noise, and that vibration was from the past, lit-
sends a signal to your brain that interprets it as sound. erally. But it turned
ANSEN
H
My hair cells are broken, so they do not vibrate—but out that he was the
the cochlear implant serves as a mechanical replace- conductor of the Brass
NDREA
A
ment for those hairs. This device that looks like a hear- Ensemble, Tony du
B
Y
O
ing aid is actually the speech processor. All sounds go Bourg. He pointed at PHOT
through a small microphone in this, into the small me, and said, “Hey! Are you that West Resendes boy?” West and his sign
computer for processing, then through the wire to the I timidly whispered, “Yes.” So he said, “I want you to
language interpreter,
magnet, which is attached to the magnet inside my play music!” I laughed, but then thought, OK, I’ll do
Michelle Nealy.
head. (Yes, you could stick a refrigerator magnet on it—primarily to make this man happy, and secondly,
my head, but please don’t!) And that magnet inside for the free food! But I also wanted to see if I could
my head is connected to my cochlear implant. Presto, I really do it. I’ve always wanted to disprove stereo-
can hear! However, I do not necessarily understand types. Here is a piece of advice for you: Never allow a
every sound I’m hearing right now. stereotype to define you. That’s why I joined the Brass
Here’s a little story about my first day at St. Ensemble, that’s why I gave a speech to the whole
George’s. I was at the Diman picnic—the first time in school when I ran for Senior Prefect last year (and
my life that I was truly on my own without the help lost), and that’s why I’m speaking to you today.
of my interpreter. That was quite an overwhelming Over my four years on the Hilltop, communica-
experience, as the boys were talking to each other, and tion with others has been my primary goal. I can tell,
already making friends. Somehow, I was in the middle with my experience, that my classmates and upper-
of the quad, and a circle of boys surrounded me. I formers were somewhat hesitant to speak to me fresh-
thought they were going to haze the deaf boy. I looked man year because of my “accent.” But, as time went
around, and realized that my only weapon was the by, people became more comfortable conversing with
processor I had on my head, so I braced myself. Luck- me. I think that’s you, the school community, listen-
ily, they began to pepper me with questions like, ing to me better, and taking the chance on me. I real-
“What’s that on your head?” And, “Can you read ize that I might be the last hearing-impaired person
lips?” With the help of Ash, my new friend, I ex- you will meet for a while, so I want to leave you with
plained myself. (And yes, I can read lips pretty well, some “words of wisdom.” If you meet someone who
and I know what you’re whispering about, and I know isn’t quite the same as you, try to get to know them,
what you did last summer … just kidding.) That cir- get used to their unique characteristics and give them
cle of boys was my “Welcome to St. George’s” mo- a chance. It might surprise you to discover how alike
ment, and after I introduced myself, they said, “Oh, we all really are. I thank my friends from the bottom
cool! Nice to meet you.” From that very first day, I was of my heart for having taken a chance on me.
accepted here, and that is the one thing that I will To conclude, never stop dreaming. The dream I
miss the most about St. George’s. This is a very small had as a young child is now my reality.
school, and you will meet practically everyone at least
once, and the overall sense of acceptance of everyone Westley Resendes ’08 of Middletown, R.I., plans to
here is truly incredible. study neuroscience at Harvard University this fall.
Later that week, I was walking by the chapel to He can be reached at
resendes@fas.harvard.edu.
ST. GEORGE’S 2008 SUMMER BULLETIN 15
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