URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — Tuesday marked a new chapter for some of the students at the Carle Auditory Oral School, CAOS, in Urbana.

The graduation ceremony was a lively celebration, featuring music, dancing, and speeches in honor of children who are deaf and hard of hearing as they persistently surmount challenges.

Isaac Berry, an alumnus of CAOS, addressed the attendees. He shared that his achievements serve as tangible evidence of the school’s effective approach and the commitment of its staff.

“This school, alone, has changed the trajectory of my life, to the point where, I can be able to talk the way I do today,” Berry said. 

Upon joining the school, the recent high school graduate had significant hearing difficulties, but he has transformed this challenge into a drive for a career in sound engineering.

“It just put me on a path where I just wanted to make sound more accessible for everyone,” Berry said. 

His story is what many in the audience of the school’s graduation hope to see for their own children. That feeling was not lost on Michael Novak, founder of the Expanding Children’s Hearing Opportunities program that encompasses CAOS.

Novak said parents come to the school, hopeful to communicate with their children in their same language. It’s not uncommon for families to drive upwards of an hour, or move states to have access to the school’s resources. 

“[Parents have] the natural reaction that ‘Oh, my child will be limited,’ and we just say, ‘No, they can do anything they want’ and it’s our job to get them there,” Novak said. 

While many of the graduation performances seemed like fun and games, they were the product of months of speech, language and listening practice.

“It’s a huge amount of work that you don’t see,” Novak said. “That’s why we enjoy this day so much, because we get to see another year of progress.”

It was a celebration of how far the students have come, and how far they’re destined to go. The eight graduates will now make their way into traditional school settings with typical hearing peers. 

“Just know in the future, all of your hard work will pay off, always,” Berry said.