Monarch is Making a Difference: Andrea Cataquiz’s College Story

Monarch was created to drive students forward and make learning easier in all stages of their education. For students transitioning into college or a career, Monarch is equipped with tools to make daily living simpler and more accessible.  

Andrea Cataquiz is a college student who is blind, completing her second year at the College of DuPage in Illinois. She received the Monarch in February of 2025 through a local transition program created for students ages 18-22 as they move from high school to college and onto their careers. The transitional program focuses on teaching students daily independent living skills like cooking and navigating public transportation, while also assisting with job preparation, and comfort with assistive technology. “Transitioning to the Monarch was very easy,” said Cataquiz. “Some things took time, but working with the Monarch, seeing everything you can get it to do, and just playing around with it, I got there.” 

Word, KeyMath, and Email have been essential applications for Cataquiz working throughout the semester. “Email is everything to me. It’s great that on the Monarch I can switch between my personal account, and Outlook for my college courses,” said Cataquiz. Applications like Word allow her to take notes and independently format documents. “When I use the Monarch, see it format things, it makes the reading experience easier, and the writing experience easier. It makes me think, what else can this device make possible? It has a lot of potential,” said Cataquiz. While the device is bigger than a traditional laptop, its capability to create an easier learning environment and maintain a reliable battery life throughout the entire day, is essential for students. “The battery life lasts forever. Which is great as a student and just in general,” said Cataquiz.  

Reflecting on her own education growing up, Cataquiz noted what a difference technology like the Monarch can make for younger students. “There are so many resources for younger students. In middle and high school, they gave us printed and embossed graphics, but I can see how much faster it could be with the Monarch. I see all the graphics available and think about how much more kids will understand graphically than I ever had access to,” said Cataquiz. With resources like the Tactile Graphic Image Library (TGIL) students at any age can search for graphic images from daily living objects, to book characters like Cataquiz’s favorite, “Thing One and Thing Two” from The Cat in the Hat.  

When it comes to navigating any challenges with the Monarch, Cataquiz, like many Monarch users, turns to the Monarch Support Team for help. “The Monarch Tech Support is great. They are helpful, patient. I can’t stop saying good things about them. They always have good advice and the wait time is never long,” said Cataquiz. The Monarch Support Team and online resources are there to aide every Monarch user, in every phase of life. To contact Monarch support, reach out to monarchsupport@aph.org or (833) 447-8444.