Neal Danis

The quick glimpse one might catch of Erin LaFave as she runs by is not enough to see what makes this third year Visual Media student extraordinary.

Though her speed and her determination are apparent at every race, it’s a demure but confident enthusiasm for life and competition that makes her more than just an average student-athlete.

Deaf since birth, LaFave came to RIT largely because of the Deaf community. Aside from school and cross-country, LaFave has many other interests. To fill her time, she has picked up snowboarding, longboarding and soccer, as well as expanded on her love of photography and adopted an interest in travel.

LaFave’s start in cross-country began after a timed run in gym class, when a teacher suggested she join the cross-country team. With an already athletic family to support her, LaFave joined and began steadily improving. She has now fully come into her own, earning Liberty League Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Week three times this year and consistently performing as RIT’s top finisher this season.

But perhaps the biggest highlight of LaFave’s running career has been competing for the U.S.

Deaflympics Team. At the 2009 games in Taiwan, LaFave took 6th place in the 5K and 4th place in the 3K steeplechase, even after falling during the race. She still remembers the atmosphere, recalling that all of the people in the stadium were “so proud; I was proud to be representing the USA.”

As far as career goals, LaFave doesn’t have many specific ideas yet. Her only plans are to someday settle down with a job, a family and a house — and, of course, to keep running. When asked whether she’d be staying close to home after graduation, LaFave’s reaction was fervent: “No way; I’m leaving here.” With plans to live and work in either California or Colorado, travel is also a certainty in her future. The Deaflympics will be held in Hungary in 2013, giving LaFave ample opportunity to continue competing and doing the things she loves, which for her are one and the same: “I compete with everything I do in my life.”

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