By Kate Longworth
Arizona Daily Wildcat
December 8, 1997

UA senior is Miss Deaf Arizona

Photo courtesy of Maria Cristina Armenta. Arizona Daily Wildcat UA speech and hearing senior Maria Cristina Armenta smiles to the crowd after being crowned Miss Deaf Arizona in October. Armenta is preparing for the Miss Deaf America pageant in July.

When UA senior Maria Cristina Armenta in October was crowned 1997 Miss Deaf Arizona it was a dream come true.

"Everything was so unexpected," she said. "They announced my name as the next Miss Deaf Arizona and placed the crown on my head, and I was just so surprised."

Cristina Armenta said she considers herself new to the deaf culture, as the speech and hearing education major learned how to speak before she lost her hearing.

As a 5-year-old, she caught meningitis, resulting in a complete hearing loss in her left ear and a 95 decibel loss in her right ear.

"American sign language is not my first language," she said. "When I lost my hearing, I already knew how to speak. I was alone without an interpreter."

To use the telephone, Armenta must use a TDD, a device that translates telephone conversations through an operator. However, she can respond using her own voice to statements that come in over the TDD.

As Armenta began preparing for the Miss Deaf Arizona pageant, she also began sharpening her signing skills.

"I am a role model to both the deaf and hard of hearing, because I am both," she said.

Armenta has helped out in the deaf community through volunteer work at the Arizona School for Deaf and Blind along with Community Outreach for Deaf, a local organization for the hearing impaired.

Armenta is now preparing for the Miss Deaf America pageant in July.

The pageant, which is similar to state-level competition, consists of a personal interview, evening gown show and talent display.

Armenta will perform a traditional dance to portray her Mexican heritage, she said.

Later in life, Armenta hopes to use her trilingual skills in English, Spanish and American Sign Language, to, "teach society of the deaf culture and what it is like to be deaf."

Armenta will graduate from the UA in May with a bachelor's degree in speech and hearing education and in deaf studies. She hopes to be a counselor for the deaf after attending graduate school at San Diego State or Gallaudet, a university for the deaf in Washington, D.C.