TCNJ

26 SPRING 2017 In July 2008, 10-year-old Jack Wallace was water skiing on Lake George, in upstate New York, when a freak accident caused the boat's propeller to slice through his right leg above the knee. The leg had to be amputated. Doctors said Wallace would be in the hospital for six months. He was out in three. Doctors said he wouldn't be fitted for a prosthetic leg for a full year. He got his first prosthetic in four months. A year after his injury, Wallace discovered sled hockey, in which players who have lost legs careen about the ice on small sleds. "Once we all kind of realized there's nothing we could do, there was no real reason to give up at that point," Wallace says. "You've got to keep moving forward and see what you can do to make something out of it." Wallace, it turns out, has made a whole lot out of it. He'd always been athletic as a boy. Football, baseball, basketball, wrestling — you name it, he played it. But his favorite sport was hockey: He first took to the ice when he was three years old. A year after his injury, Wallace discovered sled hockey, in which players who have lost legs careen about the ice on small sleds. It quickly became apparent the injury had not diminished his athleticism. At 13, he joined the New Jersey Freeze, part of the Northeast Sled Hockey League, and last summer he qualified for the U.S. national sled hockey team, which represents the country in international competitions. At TCNJ, Wallace majors in biomedical engineering, a field that will enable him to call on his own experience while helping others in similar straits. He says he might one day want to develop prosthetic limbs. "I was always interested in technology and science," he says, "always interested in the human body and how it works." Outside the classroom, his hockey career keeps him busy. The national team practices one four-day weekend each month. ("All the professors have been accommodating and helpful.") Last December, in Canada, the team won the World Sled Hockey Challenge, and in April the team traveled to South Korea for the very similarly named Sled Hockey World Championship. This summer Wallace will compete in the team's annual tryouts, aiming to make the squad that will represent the United States at the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. KERSTIN BARAN BIOLOGY Habitat for Humanity: Started club on campus; first build happened this spring in Trenton. "We actually got up on the roof. Climbing the ladder was a little scary." Career goal: Pediatric dentist, for which her experience with drills should help Her moment of Zen? Learning about meditation and aromatherapy through the humanitarian yoga club Zeta Tau Alpha: Her sorority DARSHAN KALOLA COMPUTER SCIENCE Long-term goals: Be a doctor and also work as a medical software developer Emotional literacy: He practiced medita- tion in his first seminar program. "It was one of the greatest academic experiences of my life because it provided clarity and balance." Laundry: New life skill he acquired this year Exposed: Name of Android app he designed at HackTCNJ to help people get to meetings on time. "Users upload an embarrassing picture of themselves prior to the meeting, and if they are late, it is sent to all the other group members." JACK WALLACE FUTURE FORCE IN PROSTHETIC OPTIONS FOR AMPUTEES

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