Sophomore finance major named Nordstrom scholar

A UD sophomore is one of five people nationwide to receive a 2000 Nordstrom Scholarship awarded by the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities.

Santino Ceccotti of Landenberg, Pa., a finance major in UD's College of Business and Economics, received the scholarship, which is awarded to students with disabilities who are pursuing undergraduate business degrees.

Recipients are chosen by a panel of committee members whose mission is to support "public and private efforts to enhance the employment of people with disabilities."

Despite being born with spinal muscular atrophy and being confined to a wheelchair for most of his life, Ceccotti is a dynamic, articulate achiever who would like to be a role model for others with disabilities. He said he is determined to have a successful career in business and be visible enough so that "people with disabilities will see what I have accomplished and be encouraged and motivated to fulfill their dreams and goals."

His accomplishments are many. In his scholarship application, Ceccotti said he has never considered himself different or less competent than those without disabilities. He has had a lifelong interest in the business world.

"Business has been my interest since I was a small child.... I have never considered anything else," Ceccotti told the selection panel. He said he began selling baseball cards when he was 10. By 15, he was selling collectibles on the Internet. His latest ventures are selling computers and day trading.

Ceccotti said he wants to combine his business acumen with a law degree and, ultimately, practice corporate securities law with a large firm. His condition allows him limited use of his arms but he can use his fingers and does all of his school work on the computer. "I can write with a computer and mouse and my classmates help. For tests, I dictate the answers."

Each morning his mother, Liliana, drives him to UD from Landenberg and picks him up each night. She said she is extremely proud of her son's accomplishments and his refusal to dwell on his condition.

Ceccotti gives UD high points for making his school day as obstacle-free as possible.

He said he has no trouble getting from place to place on campus in his electric wheelchair because the buildings, elevators and doors at UD are wheelchair accessible. When he does encounter an obstacle, he said, the University tries to remedy it. "They've been wonderful," he said.

–Barbara Garrison