Steve Park
Steve Park suffered a massive stroke at the age of 31 that seriously affected his speech and motor abilities. He decided to return to college and chose Richland College, even though a counselor at Texas Rehabilitation Commission told him the only job he would ever hold again was as “a parking lot attendant.”
He earned an Associate of Arts Degree from Richland in 1997 with a 4.0 GPA, won first prize in the Literary Contest and was a member of Phi Theta Kappa. He continued his education at SMU on a full scholarship, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree. At SMU, he was the student representative of the President’s Advisory Committee on the Needs of Persons with Disabilities, was named the Outstanding Adult Student Learner in 1998, and received the Dorothy Amann Award in 1999. Steve went on to UNT on the RAS Scholar Fellowship, where he earned a master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling.
The same man from Texas Rehabilitation Commission who told him he would never work again, hired him as a full-time rehabilitation counselor. He counseled groups and individuals who have head injuries. Steve worked a writer for “Stroke on the Web,” a column for the American Stroke Association’s Stroke Connection magazine from 2000 to 2002. He was a North Texas Stroke Survivors volunteer from 1995 to 2002.
Steve now works as a marketing and development specialist for LifePath Systems MHMR Services, Strategic Training and Recruitment Resources.
Steve’s powerful story of courage and perseverance deeply inspires others. Rica Garcia, one of Steve’s professors at Richland says, “In class, he did not let his disability in any way affect his work and turned every single assignment in on time doing exemplary work. He was a wonderful teacher to us all.”
Ms. Garcia also tells of a wellness conference in which she and Steve did a reader’s theatre performance of a piece Steve wrote describing his stroke and its aftermath. “I can’t tell you how powerful his words are and how many people he has helped by finding the courage to write and speak them.”