RIT Stories

Taylor Vogt’s World Opened Up

Taylor Vogt’s World Opened Up

Taylor Vogt’s world opened up when she was fitted with behind-the-ear hearing aids at age 3. “She kept making noise with her hands because she wanted to hear sounds she had never heard before,” says her mother, Tish Ciaccio, senior director of development for student affairs at RIT.

Tish and her husband, David Vogt, sought assistance from the Rochester Hearing and Speech Center, a United Way-funded agency in partnership with the Al Sigl Center. “We needed to learn how to deal with a child with a 30 percent hearing loss in both ears, and Taylor needed extra help with vocabulary, articulation and phonetics,” Tish says.

Now 21, Taylor is a senior at St. Lawrence University who is majoring in political science, plays Division III field hockey and plans a career in law.

“Her hearing loss has never gotten in the way of anything she wanted to do,” Tish believes. “We are forever grateful to RHSC because the agency kick-started her education and taught Taylor how to become a real advocate for herself.”

2011 Wasn't a Happy New Year

2011 Wasn't a Happy New Year

2011 wasn’t a Happy New Year for Terry Bognanno, who was diagnosed with Stage III Breast Cancer. But with support from her husband, Joseph; her daughter, Meredith Smith, who works as Director of State and Local Government Relations at RIT; and the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester, she has “hope.”

 “Hope is one of the greatest gifts we can be given and because of BCCR I have a responsibility as a breast cancer survivor to share my journey,” Terry says.

When Meredith learned of her mother’s illness, she contacted the Breast Cancer Coalition, a donor-designated agency of United Way, and “talked and cried at length about what we were all going through.”

“It’s like an out-of-body experience when someone you love tells you they have cancer,” Meredith recalls. “You’ve got to have somebody to partner with to get through it because mental attitude is just as much a part of the recovery. BCCR gave us the knowledge, resources and support—and yes, they gave us hope.”

LIVE UNITED…2012