“Why Was Jeff Deaf?”

Several years ago, Jeff Bracken laid in bed pondering possible answers to that question, which spun from the common saying, “What Would Jesus Do?”

The Lexington junior was born with a bilateral hearing problem and faced many challenges growing up, such as being teased and not being accepted in social groups.

Nickiah Mantlo took the stage at DUC Theater Tuesday night wearing knee-high boots, a black halter-top dress, a curly brown wig, a red garter around his stocking-covered thigh and makeup. He shimmied his fake breasts and shook his booty to Lindsay Lohan’s remake of “Edge of 17.

Codie Bennett’s pink hair and flair for cosmetology left her with a job offer after a friendly visit to N-Style Salon almost four years ago. Although her hair is now brown, the Princeton senior still works at the on-campus salon – cutting, coloring and styling hair, waxing eyebrows and acting as what she calls an “underpaid shrink.

Johnny Castro may be more than 1,600 miles away from home, but he’s brought the sounds of home with him to Bowling Green. Castro, a senior from Bonao City, Dominican Republic, has introduced reggaeton to this area of Kentucky. He has been performing reggaeton, which blends Jamaican influences of reggae and dancehall with Latin American and hip hop music, for about a year and a half now.

Every night, Joshua “Josha” Peay steps into black high heels. He cranks up his radio and practices his dancing, hip shaking and facial expressions in front of a full-length mirror. By day, the Morgantown sophomore is a communications disorders major and director of the Outlet Alliance.

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For her daughter’s 22nd birthday, Beverly Shelton took off work to stand in line outside Diddle Arena. She arrived at 1 p.m. Thursday to hold a spot for her daughter, Glasgow junior Lee Ann Weatherholt, until doors opened to the Dierks Bentley concert at 7 p.

Standing in a circle, 10 Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority members clad in sweat pants, T-shirts and tennis shoes clasped hands and bowed their heads. They said a prayer full of thanks and requests for guidance in schoolwork, persistence and help putting one foot in front of the other.

John Bennett logged on to eBay without high hopes, but less than a week later, he was standing in Busch Stadium watching the St. Louis Cardinals take on the New York Mets in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series. Bennett, a freshman from Decatur, Ala.

James Dean Martin has been making traffic stops since he was 10 years old. He went from being a boy riding shotgun in his father’s military police car to being the man in uniform who pulls people over for traffic violations. The Radcliff sophomore is an up-and-coming Kentucky State Trooper candidate, a dream he’s had since he was 6 years old.

Ben Brewster was sitting in front of a terminal gate in Louisville’s airport when reality sank in. After he walked down the runway and boarded the plane, there would be no turning back.

When he would land 30 hours later, the Louisville senior would spend the summer on an entirely different continent than anyone he knew.