First Runner-Up
Leslie Brown
Seminole Community College
Sophomore in Exceptional Student Education
3.46 GPA

Most student leaders would concede that the most energy-draining part of their positions is the never-ending race against time. They only have a semester, a few summers, or four years to plan a conference, pass a bill, or revamp an organization. But, what would they do if they only had a couple months? Which priorities would float to the top of the list and which would slip from sight?

Seminole Community College sophomore Leslie Brown faced this challenge in September 2003 when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Already stricken completely deaf from chemotherapy in March 2002, it seemed as if the odds were against her.

However, Brown doesn’t back down from a challenge. “I’ve learned that odds mean nothing,” she says. “I never feared death, and I love life even more with each passing day.”

Through leading her peers as a Leadership Challenge Team member, working with deaf students and children, volunteering at Ground Zero in New York City, and still adhering to her academic goals, Brown has achieved a momentum in her service activities that few other students could match.

“One of the things that prevents people from taking a leadership position is that they believe they don’t have the time or skills to do so,” says Mauricio Garcia, coordinator of student activities. Although extremely intimidated and doubtful of her chances, Brown applied for the coveted LCT position in February 2003. She was hired that same day and “almost died from the shock,” she says. “The fact that she became an LCT member after only one semester of coming into the program indicated to us that she was a real go-getter,” Garcia says.

Since then, nothing has prevented Brown from missing a single retreat. In fact, she has been an integral part in planning each one, says Randy Pawlowski, director of student life. Despite ongoing chemo and radiation treatments, Brown has devoted her time to implementing the October and December retreats of 2003, as well as the January, February, and March retreats of 2004. “Leslie has at all times exhibited superior skill and ability in dealing with leadership situations, which one would normally expect to be beyond the capabilities of a 22-year-old college student,” Pawlowski says.

One of her greatest contributions to LCT is her ability to move a crowd with her powerful speeches and presentations. Also, she provides insightful feedback to each participant by specifically discussing his or her personal strengths and weaknesses. “Because she can’t hear, she sees things that other people can’t,” Pawlowski says. “She reads body language and picks up on things that really astound everyone.”

At one of their recent retreats, Pawlowski told Brown that he wouldn’t allow her to participate in a high ropes course because of her health problems. Then, she came in the next morning and argued to change his mind. “She doesn’t want to have to change her life because of the cancer,” he says. “She’s an exceedingly intelligent person and is very eager and willing to take any and all tasks and leadership responsibilities.”

He believes that one incident completely sums up Brown’s work ethic and unwavering devotion to LCT: “Once she drove herself to Jacksonville, had a chemo treatment in the morning, drove back here, and did the retreat with us that same afternoon.”

While Brown does concede that her work with LCT has made an impact on the program, she believes that the program has had much more of an impact on her. “Without LCT, my life wouldn’t be the same,” she says. “I would never have seen my full potential.”

In addition to reaching people through LCT, Brown has used her fluency in American Sign Language and skills in lip-reading to work with students throughout SCC. She has personally mentored a number of SCC students who approached her asking for help in increasing personal effectiveness and how to develop their leadership abilities. Also, she recruited 12 deaf students from SCC to apply to attend a retreat to boost their confidence. “She has a way of challenging people to do things they didn’t think they were capable of,” says SCC President E. Ann McGee. “I think her never-give-up attitude enables her to inspire others.”

Within the local community, Brown has tutored and mentored deaf students at local elementary and high schools. Specifically, she’s helped about 35 students in math and English high school subjects. In addition, she gives motivational speeches to disabled children of all ages. “I felt it was important to show kids that life can change in an instant,” she says. “But, despite that fear, we can overcome.”

Through her immersion in deaf culture, Brown realized how much work needed to be done there. “I met adults who can’t read or write above a second grade level and children who are pushed away to special classes with no role models and no drive to achieve,” she says.

She also realized that deaf people have an intense yearning to experience music. So, she developed a way to teach piano through a system of vibrations and colors. Thus far, Brown has tutored three children in that area, with much success. “She’s definitely somebody that people make a connection with and cherish dealing with,” Garcia says.

Just days before her 20^th birthday, Brown faced a new kind of pain that she’d never experienced before. She flew to New York for a close friend’s funeral shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. “However, when I was en route, my mind was changed,” she says. “God placed in my heart a yearning to help, and it was then I decided to become a Ground Zero volunteer.”

When she arrived on the scene, the destruction was almost more than she could bear. “Of 60 or so people, I was the only one able to get myself to step off the bus,” she says. She stood in shock, surveying the landscape: “jagged metal, huge boulders, steel beams, and pieces of human remains.” Amid the crowd of searching, weeping, and praying faces, Brown fell to her knees. “I didn’t think I could help,” she says.

But help she did—for three days. Discovering victims in the debris and pulling their bodies free, she felt her spirit lift. “I remember feeling that sense that I was giving closure to the families,” she says. “I turned 20 the morning I came home, receiving the best gift ever—a renewal of hope. The days I spent at Ground Zero developed my ability to see things from a different perspective.”

Although her sudden total deafness in 2002 would prevent Brown from ever realizing her dream of being a paramedic, she persevered to still graduate within that major. “I wanted to show people that they could still achieve the unattainable,” she says.

That graduation was one evening that most in attendance won’t soon forget. When it was her turn to receive her diploma, Brown walked across the stage, took off her mortarboard, and revealed her bald head. She had painted the sign for “I love you” on it as a message to her father. To her surprise, the crowd jumped up in a roar of applause, she says. “She just had the biggest smile on her face that you could possibly imagine,” McGee says.

Having already volunteered a considerable amount of time with deaf children, Brown then realized that she wanted to teach. “I knew that if I couldn’t change lives as a paramedic, I could change lives as a teacher,” she says.

On top of all her service to SCC and the community, Brown has maintained a firm commitment to her education. At a point when her health declined sharply, she was told she only had 10 days to live. She still attended her classes. Between sessions of physical, occupational, and cognitive therapy, she still took her exams. While relearning how to walk, talk, and reason, she still kept a 3.46 GPA. “She’s a walking reminder of what hard work and determination can do for someone,” Garcia says.

Faced with medical bills in addition to her tuition and books, Brown’s income comes from two different jobs working with the deaf. Also, student loans and scholarships help cover her educational expenses.

But, even the most indomitable spirit needs a boost of confidence every now and then. When times get especially tough, Brown relies on her strong faith in God to get her through any struggles. As she fought for her life on a ventilator, she felt Him holding her hand. “How many people can thank God every night for being deaf and having experienced cancer?” she says.

Another source of inspiration in her life is her late grandfather, William Brown. His courage in fighting terminal bone cancer for seven years taught Brown an unforgettable lesson. “I saw strength in him I never saw in any man before,” she says. “He had pain but never complained.” When she was in the hospital going through chemo, they would tease each other about their bald heads. “Everything I have accomplished and will do is because he let me know there was nothing I couldn’t do,” she says.

While Brown spends the majority of her free time giving back to others, she still can find time for herself every now and then. She enjoys keeping active by practicing martial arts and cycling regularly. To indulge her creative side, she likes to compose music for the piano, draw, paint, and write.

When Brown leaves SCC, she hopes her legacy to future generations will be one of inspiration. “If I could give you anything from my life to take with you today, it’s to remember me and see hope, see a smile, and see an ability to overcome,” she says. “If you do that, you will successfully persevere in anything that comes your way.”

Anyone she has worked with through SCC, LCT, and her community would be hard pressed to deny that Brown has impacted their lives in some way. “She’s just an incredible kid with an incredible story,” McGee says. —CG

Contact Brown at deafparamedic@aol.com.