Topic of the Month- Summer 2006

Focus on Students

A Matter of Choice

Navarro Encourages Campus Community to Live Wisely

Jesse Navarro appeared to have it all during his junior year in high school. He was a bright student, a talented member of the varsity soccer team and very popular. For Navarro, there was never a shortage of friends or invitations to “hang out.’’ Looking back, however, he realizes he was headed in the wrong direction. The social life he chose led him down a destructive path that ended on a rain-slick road, where an automobile accident and resulting head injury altered the course of his life.

Now a junior at UT Tyler, Navarro, who is partially paralyzed due to the accident, serves as president of CHOICES. The organization of peer mentors encourages students to make the most of their college days by properly balancing their academic studies and social lives and by making responsible, healthy choices. The group advocates responsible decision-making in every aspect of life -- from studying to socializing to physical fitness – and sponsors events such as alcohol and drug abuse awareness programs, sexual responsibility seminars and health education fairs.

Participating in CHOICES is just one way in which Navarro inspires others at UT Tyler.

“Not only is Jesse sincerely concerned about helping students to make the right choices so they won’t have to experience what he experienced, he also serves as a good example because of his faith, his positive attitude and his determination,’’ said senior history major Ryan Lilly. “He inspires people to overcome obstacles and to not let something get them down. He has taken a negative experience, turned it into a positive experience and he is very dedicated, not only to school but also to his physical recovery.’’

“I think everyone on campus knows Jesse and can be inspired by him,’’ nursing student Linsey Bishop said prior to graduating in December. “He is so positive, he has such a great outlook on life and he is always striving to better to himself. Jesse sets a high standard on this campus.’’

Road to Recovery

While Navarro continues to face the physical consequences of the choices he made prior to the automobile accident, he believes prayer as well as his choices and determination since then have helped him to overcome many obstacles.

In his hometown of Longview, Navarro was a passenger in a vehicle driven by a friend on a rainy night in March 1995. The group of nine took a fast ride in an SUV after socializing and drinking. The driver lost control of the vehicle, crashing into a median in the downtown area.

“The right side of my skull was completely fractured and I sustained a traumatic injury to the right hemisphere of my brain, causing partial paralysis to both my upper and lower left extremities,’’ said Navarro. “The accident was gruesome and everything but, believe it or not, I’m thankful, in a sense, that it happened. I was 17 and hanging around with the wrong people in the wrong places. I was easily manipulated into doing dumb things. After the accident, I was determined to get back on the right track and live my life in a way that I knew was best for me.’’

Navarro was comatose for two weeks following the accident. “Initially they said I might not survive the accident or, if I did survive, I might be in a vegetative state for the rest of my life. Coming out of the coma, I realized I could only move my right side due to paralysis on my left, but I knew I could overcome it. My family was there praying for me and, besides that, I’ve always been strong-willed. I was determined to pull through.’’

He was transferred from the hospital to a rehabilitation center, where he underwent therapy for mobility and short-term memory for two months as an inpatient. “At first, I had no short-term memory. You could tell me anything and I’d forget it. That improved with therapy,’’ Navarro said. “Mobility was my biggest challenge, and doctors said I might not walk again.’’

Navarro was walking short distances on a cane at the time of his release as an inpatient. “I continued therapy as an outpatient and, slowly but surely, I kept making progress,’’ he said. “The more I progressed, the more determined I was to do even better. After being an outpatient for about six months, I was beginning to walk without the cane.’’

Better Choices

He returned to high school in the fall of 1995 with a new sense of direction for his life. “A lot of my old fiends were no longer my friends because I had physical limitations and they had no use for me, but I didn’t let that bother me. I just concentrated on my studies and on my physical rehabilitation,’’ Navarro said.

Following high school graduation in 1997, Navarro decided to pursue his interests in chemistry and psychology. He earned an associate degree in chemical operations technology at a technical school and then, in 2003, enrolled at UT Tyler to study psychology. He hopes to attend graduate school and become an industrial psychologist.

Navarro eagerly joined CHOICES in his first semester at UT Tyler, after learning about the organization’s mission.

“Our main message is ‘Choose a healthy student life,’ ’’ Navarro said of the organization. “Why not make the most of your time in school both academically and socially by making responsible, healthy choices? And when you make a mistake, don’t give up. Pick yourself up and go in a positive direction.

 “After the accident, I could have gone in a direction that would have led me to further destruction,’’ Navarro added. “I chose to go in a positive direction that has taken me quite a distance, and I want to go even further. Nothing is stopping me.’’

Navarro, who wears an ankle brace for ambulatory support, continues to works on improving his physical condition. “I have been out of the coma for over 10 years and I have come a very long way. I still have some limitations with my arm and leg and my peripheral vision in my left eye. I have trouble with things like turning a doorknob and I cannot fully bend my knee. I’m working on getting better.’’

His regimen includes running several miles weekly and weightlifting. “I get up at 4 o’clock every morning and run before class and sometimes I run again in the evenings. And there’s a hill on campus that I really enjoy running. I run the hill 100 times once a week for endurance,’’ said Navarro, who also plays soccer with friends for recreation and exercise.

Bishop said she was shocked the first time she saw Navarro jogging on campus. “It is unbelievable seeing Jesse out doing things that doctors said he might not ever be able to do again,’’ she said. “I am glad we have him at our school because he is a constant reminder that you can do whatever you set your mind to do.’’

By: Emily Battle, Public Affairs Specialist

The University of Texas at Tyler Magazine, Spring 2006