None of this has stopped Dawn from doing what she loves. She was a girl scout for ten years and received the Silver Award. She was an equestrienne on the Para New Jersey State team and served as an alternate for the 1991 Para-Olympic team that competed in Spain. She has traveled the U.S and visited Holland and London.

   At Morristown High School in New Jersey, she graduated third in her class of 376 able-bodied students. As a National Honor Society member, she won the Blonstein Award. Yale, the University of Notre Dame, and Seton Hall University wanted her to attend their schools, but Dawn chose Notre Dame. There she was the first student with multiple-disabilities in the history of the university. At Notre Dame, she was on her own just like any other college student. She did it all: majored in mathematics, founded her dormitory’s literary magazine, went to all of the home football games, held summer jobs, participated in the planning of social events and dated. Her fellow students founded an award in her name to be given to future students who succeed in life despite unthinkable odds.

     When she started at Notre Dame, there were only ten disabled students, including people with diabetes and asthma. In 1995, Notre Dame renovated an older building to house their expanding Office of the Students with Disabilities in order to better serve the university’s many students with various disabilities.

Dawn graduated cum laude in four years. In the summer of 1995, she joined the Computer Science and Engineering graduate program at Notre Dame and again became the first disabled student in the program. In May of 2000, she graduated magna cum laude with a Masters Degree in Computer Science and Engineering. Then she went to worked for Network Design Tools Inc. in Eatontown, New Jersey as a Telecommunications Network software tester. She lost that job in December, 2001, as a result of 9/11. (See the Work History link for more details about her position and other full-time work that she had.)

      While studying at Notre Dame, she became the first Ms. Wheelchair New Jersey winner with a speech disability. She talks with an aide of a computer device, similar to the one used by the well known scientist, Stephen Hawking. The Ms. Wheelchair New Jersey Program is part of the Ms. Wheelchair America organization.

     During her Ms. Wheelchair New Jersey reign (1999-2000), she discovered her love of public speaking. She has spoken in front of countless children, (disabled and non-disabled), many local area leaders, CEOs of major companies, and in front of stars. 

    Dawn is a prominent Board Member on the Morris County Right to Life in New Jersey. In spring of 2005 and March of 2006, she testified before the New Jersey Senate against funding embryonic stem cell research. Various times, she has been in Washington DC for the March for Life events to speak with college students about the disabled life issues. In addition, she was invited in 2007 to be the keynote speaker by the Notre Dame Right for Life Students Organization during their Respect Life Week.

    Please use the links menu to read the newspaper and magazine articles about and by her to get to know Dawn more.