Washoe Country School District
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Lyndsay Slocumb's Profile
Reno High Senior Conquers Physical Challenges to Graduate on Time
Student: Lyndsay Slocumb
School: Reno HS
Lyndsay Slocumb would not be one to let her skiing accident and the resulting coma get the best of her. The Reno High School senior would do whatever it took to graduate in four years even when others in her position might have given up or been less determined to finish school.
“I’m very determined to do what I want,” Lyndsay said. “I wasn’t satisfied where I was at. I wouldn’t let myself live in a wheelchair. I wanted to walk again.”
She will cross the stage in June at Reno High along with all the friends, teachers and administrators who have witnessed her strong determination to receive her diploma.
In March 2007, a day like any other for the long-time skier, Lyndsay and her friends drove to Boreal Mountain Resort in Truckee, Calif. to spend some time on the slopes. Lyndsay, a self-proclaimed ski racer, doesn’t remember much about the day.
“We went to the snow park and I went off a jump a little fast,” she said. “I’ve been told, since I don’t remember it, I was going about 45 miles per hour and I fell the distance of three stories on my neck.”
For five weeks, she was in a coma. For four months after that, she was in the hospital recovering. Even today, she’s still in rehabilitation, regaining basic skills most take for granted.
“I had lots of practice with everything – holding a glass, learning how to release it, flipping over pennies,” she said.
Having missed a large portion of her freshman year without losing her desire to stay on track to graduation, she attended summer school all three summers of her time in high school. She concentrated on one class at a time to keep up with her coursework.
Her counselor, Jeff Tomac, called Lyndsay a committed competitor who made the choice to work through her circumstances.
“I would never have thought when things began four years ago that she would be where she is standing today,” said counselor Jeff Tomac. “She has fought so hard to be where she is today and graduate with a 3.8 GPA in a rigorous Honors and Advanced Placement curriculum after missing most of her freshman year. She is a testament to the resiliency of our youth. She really helps you put life in perspective when you see what we can achieve if the desire is great enough. The human spirit is a powerful thing.”
Reno High Principal Robert Sullivan said her tenacity is to be admired.
“I think she’s just an inspiration to everybody and really more so to her peers,” Sullivan said. “You talk to her peers – you talk to anybody – and anything she continues to do, she does with no assistance. If there’s a project, it’s done the same as anybody else. And she was right back at the games, right back at the dances and it’s just an inspiration that she didn’t do it to get notoriety or attention.
“She just enjoys life and she enjoys high school,” Sullivan continued. “She’s a great gal and a super young adult. She’s a sweetheart.”
Lyndsay, who calls herself a “numbers-oriented person,” said she will attend the University of Nevada, Reno in the fall. She wants to study to become a high school math teacher and hopes she finds a career at Reno High.
“Don’t give up on yourself,” she said she would tell others in a similar predicament, “because if you have the will, there’s a way to get there.”
