* Faith in God renews grads spirit
* Eight faculty retire

"I can do everything through Him who strengthens me."—Philippians 4:13

Moorhead, MN…Megan Kiedrowski doesn’t remember that moment when the .44-caliber bullet pierced her throat, severing her spinal chord and ripping a hole through her trachea and esophagus.

She doesn’t remember the doctors frantically trying to save her life as she fell into respiratory arrest, or the drug-induced coma that shrouded her 16-year-old body for a month and a half.

But she does remember the anger and despair that consumed her during recovery, and the early prognosis that suggested she’d never talk, breath or eat on her own.

"I was angry at myself, at my life, at God," she said.

What she remembers most, however, is her father’s inspiration.

"As I was laying in the hospital bed recovering, he kept saying, ‘You can do it, you can do it, Megan,’" she recalled. "Then he recited that passage from Philippians. ‘I can do everything through Him who strengthens me.’ I was pretty depressed at the time. But the message somehow stuck. It has become a constant theme for me ever since."

Kiedrowski, now 23, is one of 360 students who will receive degrees during Moorhead State University’s winter commencement at 2 p.m. Friday, Dec. 17 in the Fargo Civic Center.

A health services administration major, Kiedrowski some day would like to run a specialty rehabilitation center or a Christian nursing home facility.

"First I’m going to St. Cloud to live with my dad for awhile," she said. "I plan to  test my skills on the job market or in graduate school. Then we’ll see what happens. God has plans for me. I don’t know what they are. But I can feel it."

Her life today is no longer shadowed by that Nov. 6, 1992 accident, when her then 13-year-old brother accidentally discharged their father’s pistol at home.

"I promised my parents, who were both out of town that night, that I’d be going to the movies," she said. "Instead, I invited a small group of friends to the house. And we were drinking. I shouldn’t have done it. I should have gone to the movies. That’s why I’ve spent some time during the past few years talking to local high school groups about the importance of making correct choices."

At the time she was a junior at Fargo North High School, a hockey cheerleader and an athlete who was both a competitive swimmer and a discus and javelin thrower.

Just happening to be walking by, Megan crossed a deadly path with the wayward bullet. The gun wasn’t supposed to be loaded.

Treated first in Fargo, she was eventually flown to the Mayo Clinic, then back again to Fargo, and finally to a specialist at the Minneapolis Children’s Hospital who managed the delicate process of repairing the holes in her trachea and esophagus.

"I was told before the operation that I’d probably never be able to eat or breath on my own, or to speak anything beyond whispers," Megan said.

After the surgery, she was alive, but so weak she couldn’t lift a pencil.

"That’s when I began to learn how to breath and swallow again," she said. "I had no movement on the right side of my body at first. So I learned to write with my left hand. Now I’m ambidextrous. I write with my right hand, eat with my left."

By  the graces of God, effort and physical therapy, Megan said she slowly learned to breath and eat on her own, and then talk.

Unlike other patients in rehabilitation who were relearning basic skills like tying their shoes and walking, Megan was learning basic life support.

After nearly nine months in hospitals—including four more operations while in rehabilitation to remove scar tissue--Megan finally came home.

"My mom, who quit her job as a nurse, took total care of me and drove me to school," she said. "I did graduate from high school, but I really wasn’t prepared to deal with my injuries. It was a difficult time. My parents were getting divorced and I was angry that I couldn’t walk."

In 1994 she enrolled at MSU and moved into the residence halls. "I just had to get out of the house," she said.

Her goal: to become a doctor and get rich. And, always, to walk again.

"Instead," she said, "I developed a relationship with God and learned to deal with life positively."

It was more persistence than destiny that seemed to drive her in that direction. Crista Holder, Megan’s step-sister who was also living in MSU’s Dahl Hall, knocked on her door and asked Megan to join her at a Campus Crusade for Christ meeting.

"I turned her down a few times," Megan said. "But just to make her happy, I went to a meeting with her. It changed my life."

She slowly discovered that walking, earning money and becoming a doctor weren’t nearly as important as developing a relationship with God.

"I felt empty inside," she said. "All my goals seemed shallow. Something was missing. It was at a Campus Crusade for Christ retreat during my freshman year when God taught me to deal with life. It made me whole again."

Since then Megan’s become an active member of Campus Crusade for Christ, teaching Bible studies, attending retreats and joining the monthly meetings of The River, a Christian worship service and concert that attracts more than 1,500 people.

"The accident renewed her strength," said her father, an emergency room doctor in St. Cloud. "Her disability is no longer a disability. She never complains. She’s thankful for what she has. She’s been a stabilizing force in our family."

Megan switched majors from pre-med to health services administration two years ago because "I’m a people person. It fits more with my personality. I’ve had enough contact with doctors to know that career isn’t for me."

Today Megan drives a car with hand-operated controls; exercises four days a week by wheeling her chair two miles around a track; reads the Bible daily; and lifts weights when she can.

A recent bright spot is the acquisition of an Isocentric Reciprocating Gait Orthosis, an orthopedic brace used to support the paralyzed lower part of her body in a way that makes taking steps possible. It allows her to stand upright with a walker or crutches, shifting her weight from side to side so her legs can move in a reciprocal (walking) fashion.

"It’s really great for me," she said. "If I don’t use my legs and put weight on them, they’ll atrophy. I want to keep my legs in shape so if one day doctors discover how to reconstruct the nerve that sends signals from my brain to my legs, I’ll be ready."

Spinal chord research is advancing in leaps and bounds, Megan said, primarily because of the fund-raising efforts of (paralyzed actor) Christopher Reeves. "He’s an amazing force behind spinal chord injury research."

More than 450,000 people in the United States suffer from spinal chord injuries, with 8,000 new cases added to that number each year.

 "Spiritually, I’m without pain now," Megan said. "Some day I want to get married and have children, which doctors say is possible despite my injuries. I know God wants that for me. I feel blessed."

They are: Marvel Froemming from the mathematics department; Nancy Gilliland and Ray Kawaguchi from sociology; Gerald Hart and Roger Sipson from physics; Dan Knighton from economics; Molly Moore from business administration; and Keith Tandy from English.
* Froemming, originally from Alexandria, Minn., graduated from MSU in 1959 with a math and history degree and earned a master’s degree at the University of Oregon. She taught high school mathematics four years in Minnesota and Oregon before joining the MSU faculty in 1963. Froemming is a former Minnesota Inter-Faculty Organization Woman of the Year and YWCA Woman of the Year. She will retire in Moorhead.
* Tandy, originally from Reinbeck, Iowa, and a graduate of Morningside University in Sioux City,  earned a master’s degree from Columbia University and a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley. He taught five years on California campuses before coming to MSU in 1976 to establish a remedial writing program. He was director of the Minnesota Writing Project and MSU’s Prairie Writing Project and was one of 10 regional directors for the National Writing Project, aimed at retraining the nation’s writing teachers. He will retire in Moorhead.
* Gilliland, a Nebraska native, graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan University with a medical technology degree and then earned her master’s degree at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and doctorate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, both in sociology She taught four years at Salem (N.C.) College before coming to MSU in 1977. As a specialist in medical sociology and gerontology, Gilliland established both MSU minor degree program and its new major in gerontology. She intends to retire in Omaha.
* Kawaguchi, raised in southern California, earned his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his doctorate from the University of California, Riverside. He worked 12 years as a researcher for the Los Angeles County probation and health departments before coming to MSU in 1979. A specialist in research methods and the environment, he intends to retire in Nebraska.
* Knighton, a Pennsylvania native, earned his doctorate in economics from the University of North Carolina and taught two years at Greensboro (N.C.) College before coming to MSU in 1970. A specialist in labor economics, he’s a former international representative for the Textile Workers Union of America and an organizer for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. He chaired the university’s economics department for eight years and served five years as head of MSU’s faculty association. He and his wife Karen, who is also retiring after 15 years as director of MSU’s financial aid office, will retire in North Carolina.
* Moore, originally from  Lawrence, Kan., earned her master’s degree in business education at MSU and her doctorate from the University of North Dakota. Before joining the faculty here in 1975, she taught two years at Minneapolis Vocational High School and 13 years at the St. Paul Vocational Technical School. A specialist in management information systems, she chaired MSU’s former business education department for five years and for the past four years chaired the business administration department. After retiring, Moore will go to work full-time with her husband in the family business, Midwest Radiation Physicists, Inc.
* Hart, originally from Grand Island, Neb., graduated from Creighton (Omaha) University, then earned his master’s degree at Kansas State and his doctorate at the University of Idaho, all in physics. He came to MSU in 1965 right out of graduate school. Hart chaired the physics department from 1975-79, and has been the chair for the last two years.  He and colleague Walt Wesley, who retired last year, established MSU’s physical science program for elementary education majors. It now has an enrollment of 240 students a year. He and his wife will retire in Cortez, CO., where he plans to raise grapes and goats while doing volunteer work.
* Sipson, originally from the Buffalo, N.Y., area, came to MSU in 1968 after completing his doctorate at Syracuse University and his undergraduate degree from Union (Schenectady, N.Y.) College. He chaired MSU’s physics department for 12 years and six years ago received a $380,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop computer software that makes it easier for physics students to understand and apply the process of describing nature mathematically. More than 1,500 people from around the world have downloaded the software from his Web site. He intends to continue analyzing data and polishing the software during the next year to complete the research project. He and his wife intend to remain in Moorhead.