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Tucson teen receives Cochlear Scholarship for overcoming challenges of hearing loss

Posted at 4:25 PM, Mar 21, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-21 20:19:19-04

A Tucson teen is one of eight college students to receive a Cochlear Scholarship. 

19-year-old Elaine Wright was born profoundly deaf and received her first Cochlear implant at 18 months old. Then got her second at seven years old. 

Wright was recognized for overcoming the challenges of hearing loss to achieve high goals. 

"It was life changing going from you know having one ear to two and so it did take some time you know when I put on the implant it's not like it magically worked," she said. "At seven I remember putting it on for the first time and not really being able to understand the sound and so after school my mom would read to me everyday with just that right implant."

She's traveled to Spain and Israel, and learned foreign languages. 

She says the scholarship will go towards her education at Princeton University where she is currently a freshman studying electrical engineering. 

"I would love to travel the world and do something related to technology and use that background but get to maybe better the lives of other people around the world," Wright said.