Ava Martinez '25, Primary Childhood Education
Ava Martinez ‘25 has loved working with children her whole life, and majoring in Primary Childhood Education was a natural fit.
“I want to become a teacher and work with second graders or younger. I volunteer at NewPointe Community Church and I work with the three to five years olds; I just love that age,” said Martinez. “I also help run a safety program at my alma mater which helps preschoolers transition to kindergarten to be safe on the bus and have good manners - I’ve had so much fun doing that.” 
However, it wasn’t just the desire to become an educator that led Martinez to Malone. Martinez was diagnosed at a young age with Auditory Processing Disorder, and this diagnosis is something she’s contended with her entire academic career.
“With Auditory Processing Disorder, it's not the loss of hearing, it's the loss of filtering. With ADP you can hear everything around you, but it can be hard to tune things out and it's constant,” said Martinez. “For example, when I was younger I could hear the lights in the classroom humming. I’m used to it now, but as a child it made it hard to pay attention with all that amplified noise. But to my classmates it was quiet.”
Often, children with APD aren’t properly diagnosed, which leads to a lack of resources and accommodation.
“APD gets misdiagnosed all the time, for example as ADHD. If a student with APD takes a hearing test, like I have, they can pass those fine. Again, it's not the lack of hearing but the difficulty in processing and understanding. A student's school can’t test for ADP, their parents have to take them to an audiologist.”
When considering college choices, Ava had to consider all of this, in addition to her desire to continue running track, as she searched. Eventually, she found Malone.
“Athletics played a significant role in my decision, but so did finding a school that would help me adjust to college classes with my Auditory Processing Disorder in mind,” she said. “An IEP or 504 doesn’t carry to college from high school, but I found it so helpful in high school and I wanted to find a school that would work with me. Anna Meadows in the Center for Student Success was so helpful and welcome in working with me.”
Being intimately aware of the struggles a student can face when living with APD, Martinez always wanted to help other students. But this desire didn’t come to fruition in college, but rather as early as sixth grade.
“I started a nonprofit called How We Hear when I was in sixth grade to help kids with APD like myself. The main goal is fundraising to secure various technologies to help students with APD,” said Martinez. “We help buy FM systems - earpieces and microphones - that their teacher can wear around their neck so the student can hear them through an earpiece, kind of like a hearing aid. It doesn’t make the teacher louder in general, but it just makes them louder in the student’s ears. It’s a really simple system. Schools don't provide them, and I’ve used different generations of this system for my entire life, so I raise money to help kids buy these systems so they can have one for free. We also raise money for iPads. With ADP it can be slower and harder to read, so the iPad can read text for a student,” said Martinez. “If they need to reread something so they can understand it better it's easy to just play it again.”
In addition to FM systems, How We Hear provides other implements and opportunities.
“We also help raise money for scholarships for graduating seniors who want to study education, audiology, or speech and language pathology,” she said. “Last year we awarded two scholarships, one to my high school and one to another Waynedale county high school. It all depends on the funding the organization receives - I don't want the money to sit unused, so scholarships are a great way to help students.”
And that desire, to simply help other students, is at the root of How We Hear and Martinez’s mission.
“It was really just an idea, and I started with selling bracelets to raise money, but to also show my family that I was serious about this. It's suspicious when a sixth grader tells their parents they want to start an organization, but they realized I was for real when I saved the money I raised for the first FM system,” said Martinez. “Running the organization could technically be my job, but I don’t want or need anything in return. I just want to help other students like me."
A key component for Martinez is also raising awareness about Auditory Processing Disorder.
“I also want to just spread awareness. I’ve gone to so many schools talking about APD because it's not well known. I want to help teachers and professionals so they can recognize signs in their students,” she said.
While Martinez started How We Hear well before her Malone career, she has found skills and support throughout her time in college.
“My communications classes have helped me become a more effective public speaker,” she said. “In my classes I’ve also learned more about people’s differences, struggles and strengths. It’s cool to see how we can help each other learn and become our best selves.”
Martinez hopes to become a teacher after graduation, and has already gained some field experience through her education classes. She also hopes to continue to grow How We Hear and help as many people as she can.
“Anyone can go to howwehear.org to learn more about APD and what we’re trying to do. Awareness is huge! Students with ADP have to come to us, we can’t go to them because of confidentiality laws. I will never say no to someone with APD, so I hope people come to me!”