“Who can ever have imagined someone like me would make it this far?” asked Chad Wood last week during his high school graduation speech as the best student. Chad offered1to his fellow classmates to never give up---and the words2much more to himself. That's because Chad is deaf, and he told the story of the serious troubles he3to graduate first in his class at Harrison High school in Kennesaw, Georgia.

    Chad didn't start to4until he was 5, according to his mother, Pam Wood. Although her son was5a disadvantage, she was determined not to treat him6. “I've expected him to do everything every other kid does, and I saw no7why he couldn't,” she told ABC News. “And if he8the first time, we just tried again.”

    Chad, 17, worked hard throughout school,9no special treatment but sitting at the front of the class and using a special audio system so he could hear the teacher. All his hard work10. He received full school fare to Vanderbilt University. “Deafness had taught me a lesson to never11,” he said in the speech. “Not when the experts tell you it cannot be done. Not when you have12so far behind that escaping seems the only way 13. Not when achieving your dreams seems an entire14.”

    Chad spoke for about four minutes, after which he received a standing applause from the class and15messages from family, friends and strangers. “They've been sending me messages on Facebook, email, they've been talking to me in person telling me how it had a16on their lives and how they're really17by it,” Chad told ABC News. “It feels18. Seeing that my words19have a power on someone and that they want to work harder because of my words makes me feel20.”