The Mat Su Sertoma Club is proud to announce their annual summer camp scholarship has gone to Tikhon Charles from Juneau.
Tikhon is a Juneau homeschooler currently finishing 11th grade. He was born Deaf, and was the first infant in Southeast Alaska to receive a cochlear implant in 2005. Hearing loss has never limited Tikhon and he is active in our community, despite the challenges which arise from relying on technology for one of his senses. He enjoys kayaking and rock climbing. He is an engineer on his home-school robotics team, responsible for using Fusion 3D software to model his team’s robot designs. He is an active volunteer at church, and likes mentoring younger children. He also relishes academic challenges, and has completed multivariable calculus and physics classes at the University of Alaska through his home-school program. He enjoys promoting awareness of issues experienced by Alaskans with hearing loss. Prior to the epidemic in 2020, his robotics team designed a robot that maneuvered Tikhon’s remote microphone around the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Conference in Kansas City. He hopes to study biomedical engineering in college and pursue a career designing Alaska-proof cochlear implants.
