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Jerad Davis has never let his disability get in the way of his dreams.

Born with a severe hearing impairment, the 21-year-old expects to graduate next spring with an associate degree in middle grades/secondary education, complete his bachelor’s at a fellow USG institution, and be on his way to achieving his dream: a career in teaching.

“Anybody who has a disability can achieve anything they put their minds to,” says Jerad, who currently maintains a 3.93 Grade Point Average and is Vice President of Phi Theta Kappa, an honor society.

“If you really want to succeed at something, you’ve got to focus on that particular area, and give it your best.”

For Jerad, giving it his best meant overcoming the reading and speaking challenges that he faced in grade school and middle school as a result of his hearing loss.

“I was born with only 30 percent hearing in my right ear and 40 percent in my left,” says Jerad, who with the help of hearing aids is able to hear at 80 percent capacity in both ears.

While the disability made him feel “different from everyone else” when he was young, it has also made him more determined than most as a teenager and young adult. Until eighth grade, he struggled in school, but discovered that year that he liked reading.

“So I spent most of that year reading everything I could get my hands on,” he says, noting that from ninth grade on he “broke out,” overcoming shyness and becoming a very involved student.

Once Jerad graduated from Murray County High School, where he was a member of the wrestling team and the Beta Club, he made the decision to come to Dalton State.

“I was intimidated at first,” he recalls. “Everyone always told me that high school is about being able to memorize, but that college goes much deeper. So for a while, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to come to college.”

With his mother’s and sister’s encouragement, Jerad entered Dalton State in 2003. At first enrolled as an engineering major, Jerad switched to secondary education because he realized that he wanted to teach science to high school students and he hopes to encourage them to reach their goals.

While at Dalton State, he has been inducted into Phi Theta Kappa, worked as a student aide for the Academic and Career Enhancement Center (ACE), and currently works with students with disabilities in the “Adapt-a-Lab” in the Library.

Jerad says that he has a “passion for education,” and he can “hardly wait” until he is in the classroom, not as a student, but as a teacher.

“I want to help young people learn how to be happy in their lives,” he says, promising that he will encourage them to achieve their goals and to give postsecondary education a chance. “All it takes is four years out of your life to be able to achieve your dreams.”