When Rebecca Holmes plays hockey, she sometimes keeps skating after the referee has blown the whistle.

It's not that she gets carried away in the game, but it's because she can't hear the whistle: Holmes is deaf.

At the beginning of each game, the coaches tell the referees that Holmes is deaf so that if she doesn't stop when the whistle is blown, they don't call a penalty on the team.

"During the games it's not uncommon for me to keep going after the whistle is blown, so I really depend on my teammates a lot," Holmes (junior-psychology) said. "I am very visual with the game and my teammates are very supportive."

Although she was diagnosed with profound hearing loss when she was 3 years old, doctors think she had some hearing ability as a toddler because of her ability to speak clearly.

Her hearing loss was not the only hurdle Holmes has had to conquer. While at Penn State, she has had to rely on the school to provide services she needs for class.

She found that sign language interpreters didn't satisfy her academic needs, and then Holmes began to use real-time captioning.

Real-time captioning is similar to stenography. Something called a Computer Assisted Real Time translator continuously types everything the professor, and other students, say. The words then appear on a computer screen in front of Holmes.

"[My freshman year] was the first time I ever used real-time captioning and I fell in love with it," Holmes said. "It allows me the freedom to not have to rely on other students' note-taking abilities, and before I ran the risk of missing information."

This technology has lag time, which allows her time to look up at the computer screen to watch the professor and to take notes.

Holmes fought to have the captioning program continue through her college career.

"Midway through my freshman year the Office of Disabilities was unable to provide me with the real-time," Holmes said. "For a while it was difficult because I didn't have what I needed."

She was forced to rearrange her class schedule in order to have a translator with her in the classroom.

"[She] had a lot of struggles last year with the real-time captioning and it was really hard for her," said her boyfriend Matt Novinger (senior-information sciences and technology).

Holmes says that Maureen Pritchard, her translator, is the most qualified for the job.

"Because of Maureen, I am on a level playing field with all of my peers," Holmes said.

Over several semesters, Pritchard and Holmes have been able to develop a shorthand system for note taking.

Pritchard said she loves her job because she enjoys seeing her students succeed.

"I really do enjoy my job because it is a constant learning experience," she said. "All of the students that I work with amaze me because they are very dedicated."

One of Holmes' professors said the translator is a great addition to the class. The professor provides Pritchard with videos prior to being shown in class so that Holmes will have the ability to watch the information on her computer screen as the movie plays.

"I love that Becky is able to be here with everyone else," said Molly Countermine, a Health and Human Development instructor. "Becky should have every opportunity to succeed just like everyone else."

Holmes has also succeeded on the Lady Icers. She has scored 13 goals, 13 assists and also scored two of the season's game winning goals.

Holmes and her boyfriend met through mutual friends from the Lady Icers last year and have been together ever since.

"We just kind of hit it off, and her being deaf was never really different at all," Novinger said. "Everything is just secondhand nature now, when we go out and there is a lot of noise I can just sign to her."

He said Holmes taught him how to sign so they can communicate more easily if there are a lot of distractions around.

"She doesn't really see her hearing as a disability, because she really isn't that much different from anybody else," Novinger said.