Media Advisory/Photo Opportunity – Kevin Hoyt, paralyzed in 2015, will walk across the stage to receive his diploma at CSU May 13

Many students use commencement to motivate themselves to buckle down during finals, but Kevin Hoyt used the dream of crossing the stage and accepting his diploma to push himself to walk again. When he walks across the stage to receive his diploma at the CSU College of Business commencement ceremony, it will be the first time he will walk publicly since he was paralyzed in 2015.

WHERE/WHEN:

CSU’s College of Business commencement ceremony will be held Saturday, May 13, at 3 p.m. at Moby Arena.

DETAILS:

In the fall of 2012, Hoyt was an average CSU online MBA student. He was working full time, had a wife and kids, and wanted to build a better life for his family.

But halfway through his degree his world was turned upside down when he fell from the attic in his Utah home on New Year’s Day in 2015, crashing through the ceiling of his living room and landing on the floor nearly 20 feet below.

He spent the next month adapting to not being able to use his legs and figuring out how to move forward with life as a paraplegic.

Diving into “tons and tons and tons” of physical therapy, he was able to return to his job as an engineer at a local tech company three months after his accident. But he kept thinking about school.

“I ended up having a change of heart and decided to re-enroll and keep going and finish this out,” Hoyt said. “I knew it was going to be dramatically harder than before my accident because I take a lot more time to do anything.”

Hoyt started with single-credit courses to see whether he could handle the work, and after realizing, “You know what, I think I can do this,” he forged ahead.

“I’ve used the motivation of walking across that stage at graduation to get myself physically to that point,” said Hoyt, who spends the majority of his time alternating between a wheelchair and using canes to support himself, but he can walk short distances unassisted.

“I’ve never done it out in public, really just a few steps at physical therapy and a few steps around my house.”

For more on Hoyt’s story, including photos, visit the story on CSU’s news channel SOURCE: http://source.colostate.edu/wheelchair-walking-kevin-hoyts-journey-graduation/.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Jennifer Dimas at (970) 491-1543 or Jennifer.dimas@colostate.edu.