Photos by Deb Gau With support from fellow 2023 graduate Rachel Fink and faculty member Kris Cleveland, Jessica Stai walks to receive her diploma from Southwest Minnesota State University President Kumara Jayasuriya.

Graduation is a time that’s full of special moments for Southwest Minnesota State University seniors. This year, one moment that stood out came when it was Jessica Stai’s turn to receive her diploma.

Stai, a Glenwood native, normally uses a wheelchair to get around. But when her name was announced at commencement on May 6, she stood up and walked across the stage, supported by a professor and a fellow classmate.

The crowd applauded.

Stai said walking across the stage was something she had wanted to do for a long time.

“It’s always been on my mind, since I did it in high school,” she said. “It meant a lot that I had support, and they were all for doing that to help me.”

Even before attending SMSU with a double major in philosophy and psychology, Stai had overcome challenges in her life.

“I was born and raised in Glenwood (Minnesota),” Stai said. In 2014 — her first year in high school — Stai’s life was changed when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

“When I had the surgery to remove it, it was cancerous,” she said.

Recovery from the surgery was a long process, affecting Stai’s motor skills and speech.

“How I explain it is, when the brain tumor was removed it caused my brain to like, shut down, and it didn’t reset properly,” Stai said. “At first, I couldn’t move any part of my body. It took like a couple weeks for me to have movement in any of my limbs.” Stai said it took months for her to regain speech.

On top of all that, Stai also underwent chemotherapy and radiation therapy to treat her cancer.

“That was all during my ninth grade year,” she said.

Fortunately, her high school principal and superintendent made it possible for her to graduate along with her classmates.

Stai said she did physical therapy so she could walk across the stage for her graduation from Minnewaska Area High School.

Stai went on to attend SMSU. As the end of her time at the university got closer, she said she was thinking about whether she wanted to walk at SMSU graduation as well.

“I ended up making my mind up a couple months ago,” she said.

One of the people Stai asked to help make that plan happen was Dr. Kris Cleveland, associate professor of exercise science at SMSU.

“She was all for it,” Stai said.

Cleveland said she had worked with Stai, as Jessica continued to do physical therapy at the campus PT clinic. Stai also reached out to Rachel Fink, a fellow member of the class of 2023 and a volunteer at the physical therapy clinic.

It took some preparation to make sure Stai would be able walk across the stage at commencement.

“We practiced everything,” Cleveland said.

They practiced walking the distance Stai would go, as well as the process of three people walking across the stage together.

“We wanted her to feel comfortable,” Cleveland said.

Stai joked that “We kind of broke in” to the university’s Recreation and Athletic Facility a couple of days before commencement to get a chance to rehearse.

Cleveland said they also made sure to work with the university president and dignitaries who would be on the stage for graduation, so they knew what was going on.

“Everyone was involved,” she said.

Stai said she started out the day of graduation in a rush to get ready for commencement. But in spite of the stress, the ceremony went without a hitch. With Cleveland and Fink holding her hand on either side, Stai stood and walked to receive her diploma.

“I knew she could do it,” Cleveland said.

During the ceremony, Stai said she was “just focusing on walking.”

But Cleveland said she was happy that the crowd watching commencement showed their support by giving Stai extra applause.

“She’s a wonderful young woman,” Cleveland said of Stai.

Stai said she had a great experience at SMSU, with a busy schedule of extracurricular activities.

“I ended up doing three clubs,” Stai said.

She held leadership roles in the SMSU Psychology Club, the Philosophy Club, and Psi Chi, the psychology honor society.

“The Psychology Club really shaped what I wanted to do, and the possibility of going to grad school. And then I feel like Philosophy Club just kind of shaped the philosophy interest in me,” she said.

“I feel like I kind of thrive on doing more,” she added. “If I don’t have a lot on my plate, I don’t do it.”

Stai said she’s now planning to apply to graduate school, and study rehabilitation counseling.

“I’ve always been interested in doing counseling, so that’s where I picked up that psychology major,” Stai said.