Rising to the Occasion : CSUN: Susan Jeffers, a disabled student, gets her degree at commencement. Her accident has led to a new future.

If Susan Jeffers hadn’t shattered her leg, she might never have known that she could write and she certainly wouldn’t have been graduating from Cal State Northridge on Friday.

Seven years ago, Jeffers was a nurse whose only writing experience was making patients’ case notes. Then came the fateful accident. She slipped stepping down to her patio and broke her left leg in 10 places.

Jeffers decided to go back to school, enrolling at Moorpark College and taking an English class. “It was then I realized I could write,” she recalled. After serving as editor-in-chief of the college newspaper, she transferred to CSUN to pursue a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

On Friday, the 48-year-old student, who was getting around campus in an electric cart and still uses a wheelchair, could barely contain her excitement as she waited to receive her degree.

“If I had to do it all over again, I’d probably fall again,” she said. The fall “caused a lot of changes in my life, but most have been positive. I’d trade my mobility for an education any day.”

Jeffers, a Simi Valley resident, was one of more than 1,600 students in the School of Communication, Health and Human Services to graduate at a morning commencement on the Oviatt Library lawn.

Among the mortarboards were several other unusual graduates.

Daryl Siegel, who said he is the only Hasidic Jew on campus, came to CSUN after serving in the Air Force for “five years, two months, six days and 14 hours.” Siegel said he was a “cultural” Jew when he entered the service but, influenced by his Air Force rabbi, he became more serious about his faith.

Now, armed with a bachelor’s degree in speech communication, the 27-year-old is planning to leave the country Wednesday to study to become a rabbi in Jerusalem.

“I truly feel (the degree) is an incredible tool to have,” he said. “If you know how to communicate properly, you can help yourself and others to achieve the true goal in life, which is to be joyful.”

Sallie Yoshida, 27, also took a while to commit herself to academics, spending six years taking classes at a junior college. “I just didn’t know what to do,” she said. “Then I finally decided I couldn’t do anything without an education.”

On Friday, she graduated as a candidate for honors in home economics and will be leaving this weekend for UC Berkeley, where she will pursue a master’s degree in public health and an internship in dietetics.

“This field is truly what I wanted to get into,” she said. “Both my professors think I’d be good at teaching, so I might end up doing a Ph.D.”

Kimberlee Thomas saw a Cookie Monster at graduation and thought it was just a tribute to her fascination with the “Sesame Street” character. It turned out to be a lot more.

Thomas, who earned a bachelor’s degree in child development, is so devoted to the Cookie Monster that she has 250 renditions of him in a room of her Burbank home. As she marched to her seat at the beginning of the commencement, she was greeted by the gruff character.

“She kept saying, ‘Who’s in the Cookie Monster outfit?’ ” recalled her sister, Diane Lippstock.

It wasn’t until after Thomas had received her diploma that the monster’s identity was revealed. Off came the headpiece and there was her brother, a priest from Waterloo, Iowa.

Of all the graduates, few beat longer odds than Jeffers.

“She overcame numerous problems of many magnitudes to make her mark,” said Maureen Rubin, associate professor of journalism. “She’s a real profile in courage.”

At CSUN, Jeffers was president of the Disabled Students Organization. Rather than pursue a career in the media, she is hoping to continue working with the disabled. Her next test will be a state Employment Development Department exam to qualify as a disability insurance claims examiner.

“I think it would be very easy to get a job in public relations,” she said. “But I want a job where I can feel good at the end of every day.”

With that, Jeffers rose from her seat with the aid of a walking stick. Gingerly, she walked up to the podium to receive her certificate. CSUN President Blenda J. Wilson recognized her and greeted her with particular warmth. On the way back to her seat, all Jeffers could say--as she had several times during the ceremony--was, “It’s so exciting!”