KU student overcoming obstacles to follow dream

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Aug 28, 2000 by SCOTT R. GREENBERG Capital-Journal

"Before I went to school, I didn't really see anything out there - -- I didn't see what I could have done."

--- SCOTT SNOOK, a pharmacy student at The University of Kansas

--- Jenny Sparks/The Capital-Journal

By SCOTT R. GREENBERG

The Capital-Journal

If he is lucky, Scott Snook can park his 1996 Dodge Ram in one of the few handicapped spaces near Malott Hall at The University of Kansas. The pickup is equipped with a wheelchair lift that lowers Snook to the pavement.

He heaves the chair up the building's ramp and rolls into his pharmacy class. He repeats the ritual for his six classes each week.

Snook, who celebrated his 29th birthday Sunday, is quadriplegic, the result of a diving accident at Clinton Lake in June 1990. He is paralyzed from his chest down but has some limited use of his arms.

Snook was 18 when he went swimming at the lake with a friend.

"I ran into the water and dove in, but it was too shallow --- and I hit the bottom," he said. "The lady that pulled me out said it looked like I did a pike dive (a dive straight up in the air and into the water with considerable force). I broke my neck and fifth and sixth vertebrae."

The lifelong Topeka resident went on to receive an associate's degree from Allen County Community College's outreach site in Burlingame, then took time off.

Watching television one day, he came upon a health segment on the Learning Channel that captured his interest. He watched with rapt attention as he discovered that a compound in a plant could help cure an individual of a crippling disease. The seed was sown for a career in pharmaceuticals.

After five years away from the rigors of academe, he was accepted to KU's School of Pharmacy. The six-year program requires two years of pre-pharmacy work, which Snook completed at Washburn University, and four years in the professional program. Snook is in his first year of the professional program and had his first class at KU on Thursday.

The only difficulties he has faced as a disabled student on campus is finding parking and wheeling himself around the grounds of the hilly Lawrence university.

"Before I started back to school, I wouldn't have believed I'd be at this juncture," he said. "I just couldn't have believed I would have made it this far. Now that I'm here, I'm excited about what's coming up and what might lie ahead."

His plans include a career as a pharmacist for a privately owned retail store in a small town.

"Before I went to school, I didn't really see anything out there - -- I didn't see what I could have done," Snook said. "Now, it seems like if I put my mind to it I can get there."

After the accident, he sought rehabilitative therapy at the Topeka Independent Living Resource Center. Christy Van Houtan, a secretary at the center, took an interest in Snook.

"I just saw him, and I knew instantly that I needed to talk to him," said the 26-year-old Van Houtan, now an office assistant for I- 70 Auto Auction.

A friend gave Van Houtan's phone number to Snook, but she grew impatient and called him instead. Their first date was at Independent Living's holiday party.

"He's a very interesting, very caring, very funny person," Van Houtan said. "I'm very proud of him that he's come this far. It's been a long road. He's very headstrong. When he wants to do something he just does it; nothing's going to get in his way."

Snook's words bear this out.

"All I can say is if you want to do something and you have enough support around you," he said, "you have to believe you can accomplish anything that you want to."

Scott R. Greenberg can be reached at

(785) 295-1209 or sgreenberg@cjonline.com.

See OBSTACLES, page 5-A

Obstacles