{"id":9543,"date":"2014-12-15T08:52:39","date_gmt":"2014-12-15T13:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=9543"},"modified":"2024-07-02T14:45:49","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T14:45:49","slug":"coming-full-circle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=9543","title":{"rendered":"Coming full circle"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"savage_katie_14_200\"<\/a>
Katie Savage (photo by Dan Sears)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Donning a cap and gown in the middle of December was not the most traditional way to graduate.<\/p>\n

But for Katie Savage, nothing has exactly been conventional since unexpectedly losing her left leg during surgery at UNC Hospitals<\/a> when she was 14 years old.<\/p>\n

By joining more than 2,100 other graduating University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill students at the annual Winter Commencement ceremony at the Dean E. Smith Center, Savage\u2019s journey came full circle on the afternoon of Dec. 14. She was presented her bachelor\u2019s degree in political science from the College of Arts and Sciences<\/a> mere minutes from where she learned to walk again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thrilled,\u201d Savage, a native of Durham, N.C., said days before the ceremony. \u201cIt means a lot of things that I\u2019m still trying to process. I never thought that I would be here. It\u2019s been life changing. I don\u2019t see myself the same way as I did when I got here. I have changed so much.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 It\u2019s bittersweet and humbling. A lot is coming full circle because this is where my journey started.\u201d<\/p>\n

Savage\u2019s connection with the UNC-Chapel Hill community happened unexpectedly. Complications during a heart surgery caused a blood clot in the leg and forced doctors to swiftly amputate the limb. The teenager spent her recovery and rehabilitation in Chapel Hill, learning to walk with a prosthetic leg on the steps of Kenan Stadium.<\/p>\n

Before the surgery, Carolina wasn\u2019t even on Savage\u2019s radar, but the university and its students began to represent stability and normalcy for her. After that, she had her eyes set on attending UNC-Chapel Hill.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always wanted to come here,\u201d she said. \u201cThis was the only place I wanted to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Savage met her goal in 2012 when she transferred to Carolina from Central Carolina Community College. Soon after, she turned her attention to making the campus a more welcoming place for students with disabilities.<\/p>\n

She joined the Carolina Center for Public Service\u2019s Buckley Public Service Scholars program in 2013 and launched Advocates for Carolina \u2014 the university\u2019s first organization for students with disabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cKatie expressed to me feeling unsupported, and perhaps even invisible at times, when she first came to Carolina as a student with a disability,\u201d said Ryan Nilsen, program officer for the Buckley Public Service Scholars program. \u201cIn her time here and through her work with Advocates for Carolina, I think that she has helped make some significant strides in making the community of students with disabilities more connected and visible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The goal of the Advocates for Carolina is to celebrate diversity, including all disabilities, and bring more awareness, accessibility and education through events such as \u201cThis Able Life\u201d exhibit, which featured photos and narratives written by students.<\/p>\n

Over the course of two years, she built the foundation of the program and brought the issues to the forefront of conversation. But Savage said there is still work to be done and hopes that future students will continue to make strides in improving the lives of UNC-Chapel Hill students with disabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like there was a lot more that could be done,\u201d Savage said. \u201cI think the conversations around disabilities are going to continue, which I feel is huge. I feel like I\u2019ve contributed to our campus talking about something that is impacting so many people.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a dialogue that is not going to stop. That really impacts everything because if we\u2019re silent about something, nothing will ever get done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that she has graduated, Savage is hoping to continue her time at Chapel Hill and attend graduate school at Carolina. Ultimately, she wants to be in a role to influence policy and help people with disabilities have access to the resources they need.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to advocate for people,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to help change things because this is my reality too.\u201d<\/p>\n

But after a journey with several unexpected turns, Savage was simply focused on the immediate future of walking across the stage on Dec. 14. For her, the commencement not only celebrated her accomplishments in the classroom, but the winding and often difficult path.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve overcome so many fears, so many mental blockages and just a lot of things that I\u2019ve carried with me from my past,\u201d Savage said. \u201cIt\u2019s really been a pretty healing experience being here. One of the greatest things that I am taking away is that when I look at myself in the mirror, I like who I am. I\u2019m not seeing myself as that girl who lost her leg. I know that I am somebody. \u2026 I see myself as a whole person because of the special people that I met here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more about December graduation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Watch a WRAL-TV interview with Katie Savage.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

By Brandon Bieltz, Office of Communications and Public Affairs<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Katie Savage first became connected with Carolina when she unexpectedly lost her left leg during surgery at UNC Hospitals when she was 14 years old. On Dec. 14, she joined 2,100 other new UNC graduates as she walked across the stage at the Dean Smith 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