Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 16, 1993 TAG: 9306160326
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
So, for him, it won't be a big deal when he gets his high school diploma at Blacksburg High School tonight.
His mom, Laurie Shepherd, might have a tougher time controlling her emotions.
Early in her pregnancy, doctors said they didn't expect Kirk to live because his brain had not fully developed and was one-third filled with water.
"He truly is a miracle child," Laurie Shepherd said. "We really had no expectations."
Kirk's parents weren't allowed to take their baby home for nearly two weeks after he was born because doctors weren't sure he would live.
The hospital finally released Kirk, but warned his parents that their new son likely would be handicapped and severely retarded. When he was 9-months-old, doctors inserted a tube that drained fluid from his head to his stomach.
"[The doctors] didn't think he would ever walk," his mom said.
Boy, were they wrong.
Not only does Kirk walk, but for the last three years he's been a member of the cross country team, running five to eight miles a day.
His scholastic achievements didn't end with athletics, though.
Kirk will graduate with a 3.0 grade-point average, and last week a committee of faculty members voted him Blacksburg High's outstanding student.
"It was recognition for all of his hard work and effort," said Greg Harman, a guidance counselor at the high school.
A soft-spoken and polite young man, 18-year-old Kirk takes the accolades in stride.
"I learn different from other kids, maybe a little slower, but I haven't had that many problems," he said "I had a lot of support from my friends."
To a stranger, there is little evidence that the temporal and occipital lobes of Kirk's brain are damaged or that he doesn't have a corpus callosum, which connects the right and left parts of the brain.
The left side of Kirk's body is stronger than the right, so Kirk favors that side when he can. He wears a lift in his left shoe to help give him more spring when he's running.
Doctors have told Laurie Shepherd that Kirk's disabilities are limited because the damage to his brain happened so early in the pregnancy that his body started compensating before leaving the womb.
"It's really complicated and hard to explain," said Kirk, who would much rather talk about the state championship Blacksburg's soccer team won last week.
Kirk and some friends made the four-hour trek to Fredericksburg to see Blacksburg defeat Chancellor 2-1 and didn't make it back until 4 a.m the next day. "It was an awesome game," he said.
When it comes to hitting the books, Kirk said he makes up for his disabilities by studying harder than some of his friends.
"I had to work that extra hour every night," he said.
In the sixth grade, Kirk began meeting with a learning resource teacher for about an hour each day. That continued through high school until his senior year when Kirk "was completely mainstreamed" and went to see the resource teacher only four times all year, Laurie Shepherd said.
"Sometimes he has trouble putting his thoughts together when there is too much information coming in at once," she said. "He's always been such a hard worker."
Kirk, who hopes to be a sports broadcaster, will attend Ferrum College in the fall where he will study communications. The Franklin County college doesn't have a cross country team, but Kirk said he will continue to run about 40 miles a week.
Laurie Shepherd sobbed at the mention of Kirk going to college.
She cried not because she will miss her son - which she will - but because she's still can't believe he is healthy and smart enough for college.
"He has truly been a miracle and I don't think his father and I can take much credit," she said. "He has managed to compensate."
\ BLACKSBURG HIGH CLASS OF '93\ \ NUMBER OF GRADUATES: 189\ \ NUMBER OF HONOR GRADUATES: 62 students with GPA higher than 3.0\ \ VALEDICTORIAN: Jenny Schuetz\ \ SALUTATORIAN: Robert Charles Susil\ \ NUMBER OF SCHOLARSHIPS: 157\ \ VALUE OF SCHOLARSHIPS: $319,650\ \ COMMENCEMENT TIME & LOCATION: Tonight at 8 in Virginia Tech's Burruss Hall auditorium\ \ COLLEGE-BOUND GRADUATES: 141\ \ MILITARY-BOUND GRADUATES: 7
by CNB