Grace Arsenault '20 Recruiting Profile

As a little girl all I wanted was to be like the other kids, I didn’t want to admit to myself that I had a hearing loss.  I just wanted to be normal and play the sports my brothers played. Then I found hockey, a place where I felt normal; it made me happy and confident. I was at my first USAH Development Camp when I truly accepted my hearing loss. A counselor there told me: “There is nothing not normal about having a hearing loss, that is normal to us.  If you wanted to be normal do you think you would be at this camp? Most people don’t get the chance to come and be the best. You were never meant to be normal, you were meant to be different.” Her advice and my experience there shaped me.

Now I feel as if  my hearing loss was taken away that a part of my identity would also be taken away. Although I still sometimes struggle with my loss, I would not want to have it any other way. I know firsthand the impact that sports and good coaches can have. I want to spend my career helping others in similar ways that I have been helped. I am thinking of studying Nursing or Physical Therapy. I plan to continue to pursue my passion of playing hockey as far as possible. I then want to share my passion for hockey by coaching future generations. It is important to me that I spend my life giving back and helping others in a meaningful way.