A University of Delaware 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 "facilitate the communication, coordination and promotion of public and private efforts to enhance the employment of people with disabilities."

Born with spinal muscular atrophy and 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 says 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."

"Business has been my interest since I was a small child.... I have never considered anything else," Ceccotti told the scholarship selection panel. He says 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 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."

His mother, Liliana, drives him to and from campus each day. She says 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 says 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 says, the University tries to remedy it. "They've been wonderful," he says.