Topeka High senior with cerebral palsy walks across graduation stage – Topeka Capital Journal

Heather Owings walk across the graduation stage Saturday not only was a big deal for her, but also for her mother.

Her mother, Brenda Owings, said it has been a long road to get here.

Shes been working two years to walk, she said of Heather, 18, who was born with cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. This is kind of like her shining moment to walk to get that diploma. Weve been practicing for a long time, so Im excited to see her do it.

Heather Owings was one of more than 400 Topeka High School graduates who received their diplomas Saturday at the Kansas Expocentre, joining an estimated 157 Highland Park High School graduates and 236 Topeka West graduates who also walked across the graduation stage that day.

Area graduations Sunday will include Hayden, Rossville, Seaman, Shawnee Heights, Silver Lake and Washburn Rural high schools.

As Topeka High graduates filed into the Expocentres Landon Arena in their gold-colored gowns, Brenda Owings said she knew her daughter was excited to take the steps she had practiced for many months.

Shes overwhelmed and happy, she said. She gets to walk. She gets to share this moment with everybody.

Like any parent, Brenda Owings said, she is trying to give her daughter the support and tools she will need to be a citizen of Topeka and have a life in the community.

Proud parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters and cousins filled the arena on Saturday, snapping photos with smartphones and some even going live on Facebook in celebration of the Topeka Unified School District 501 graduates.

Jim Hendrix, a 1970 graduate of Topeka High School, said he was proud of his son, Donald Hendrix, 18, who was getting ready to graduate from his alma mater.

He told me when he was in the sixth grade that he was going to graduate from Topeka High School, Jim Hendrix said. I said, Well, yes, you are. Its a day hes been looking forward to. He seemed really happy when he left the house this morning.

Hendrix said his son will attend Washburn Institute of Technology to study welding this fall.

I cant say Im proud of him enough, he said. Just to get through (to graduate) is a major milestone in his life. Hell do fine.

Amy Sanders, Donald Hendrixs mother, said she traveled to Topeka this week from Marrero, La., just outside New Orleans, to watch her oldest child graduate Saturday. She said her son initially had said he didnt want to walk across the graduation stage because he had finished his high-school classes in December.

Thats one of the times his dad and I came together and said, Uh, no, youre going to, Sanders said. Hes got a path in mind that he wants to follow. I just hope he stays strong and true to himself and his own ideals and keeps fighting for what he wants.

Contact reporter Angela Deines at (785) 295-1143 or @AngelaDeines on Twitter.

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Topeka High senior with cerebral palsy walks across graduation stage - Topeka Capital Journal