Her freshman year at Gallaudet, Ronda Jo Miller counted down the days until she could leave the university.
During the recruiting process, Gallaudet had been an easy choice for Miller.
"I got letters from a couple of different colleges, looking back," she said. "I really didn't pay a whole lot of attention to those letters because I knew that I ultimately wanted to end up at Gallaudet."
She knew Gallaudet, the leading institution for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, would give her a great education while she played two sports at the Division III level. Some of her high school volleyball and basketball teammates joined her in Washington, D.C., as well.
Yet growing up in the small town of Little Falls, Minnesota, made Washington feel ginormous. Miller felt severely homesick.
Her coaches coaxed her not to give up too soon: Just stay until Christmas break.
So she stayed, even if she had one eye on the calendar. Slowly, Miller began building a new home at Gallaudet. She found her routine with classes, practices and games. She grew closer with new teammates and strengthened relationships with her high school teammates. Her coaches fostered a welcoming environment.
"Peg Worthington, Pat O'Brien and Kitty Baldridge, all three of those coaches really would check in, show me that they showed a lot of compassion for me and make sure that I was good."
Suddenly, when she would leave campus, she started to miss Gallaudet in the same way she initially missed home.
"If it wasn't for them, their encouragement and their support, I think I probably would have left school and gone back to my small-town home," she said.
For Miller, staying at Gallaudet directed the course of her life.
"I don't think my life would be anywhere what it is right now without that support if I hadn't stayed at Gallaudet," she said. "I'm really thankful to them for also encouraging me to stay at school and to continue playing sports."
At Gallaudet, Miller thrived. In fact,she is considered the most dominant student-athlete in Gallaudet history.
In basketball, she earned All-America honors three times and three Capital Athletic Conference Player of the Year awards, leading scoring in Division III in 1998-99, averaging 26.3 points per game and guiding her team to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament.
"When we arrived to the Sweet 16 … that is a great, great memory that I have. (It was one of the) most memorable things of my NCAA career."
As a volleyball player, Miller achieved similar success. She earned CAC Player of the Year honors three times, becoming the first women's volleyball player to earn CAC Player and Rookie of the Year in the same season. Miller helped her team win two conference championships and make two NCAA tournament appearances.
On top of her collegiate accolades, Miller medaled in the Deaflympics three times, competing in basketball in 1997 and in volleyball in 2001 while still in college. After graduation, she chased her third and final run in volleyball in 2005.
"I have all three different medals. I have gold, silver and bronze."
Miller's time at Gallaudet empowered her to succeed away from the deaf community, too.
After graduating with an undergrad degree in psychology and a master's in education, Miller decided to play professional basketball in Denmark.
"That's where the roadblocks … impacted me. The language barriers and the communication, having to depend on a lot of gesturing, lip reading," she said. "But it was really, really a rich experience."
She met deaf children while in Denmark, demonstrating to them the possibilities of being a deaf international athlete.
"Looking back at my experience in Europe, the deaf children there couldn't believe that I was there playing for a hearing team as a deaf individual who can't speak, who relies on sign language. They were shocked that in their culture that I was able to do that."
After that experience playing in Denmark, Miller returned to the States to continue her professional basketball career. She made history as the first deaf player to try out for the WNBA. Although she didn't make the team, she continued playing professionally for hearing teams.
After her professional sports career, Miller began a career in administration. Currently, Miller serves as the student life director at the Minnesota State Academies for the Deaf and Blind.
"I just love working with people, kids especially. I love helping them really know themselves better. … I just love being around people. It's what I enjoy."
The NCAA honored Miller with a Silver Anniversary Award in January. This award, presented to recipients on the 25th anniversary of the conclusion of their college athletics careers, recognizes former student-athletes for outstanding collegiate and professional achievements.
Reflecting on her collegiate career 25 years later, Miller described her time at Gallaudet as irreplaceable.
"It just taught me so much as a player, as an athlete, as a person. It showed that my hard work and my commitment really paid off. It taught me not to give up," she said.
"I couldn't imagine replacing that with something better. I can't imagine anything better than my experience there."
She said being a student-athlete at Gallaudet formed the path for her career.
"What I'm doing now is really a reflection of what I've done in my past. It's really developed who I am today. I'm thankful for my family, my Gallaudet family, for giving me that opportunity to have the journey that I had to arrive at where I am today," she said.
Today, Miller takes any opportunity she can to be a role model for deaf children, showing them it is possible for a deaf person to play sports in college, professionally or even abroad.
"It's amazing for them to see my success and to see that there were no barriers. There were no boundaries. You can do it," she said. "I just want to be a constant encouragement for them."
