Paralympic champ studies at COM
Fatima Paiva
Issue date: 2/21/05 Section: Features
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Jorgensen has a bachelor's in recreational therapy, works as a personal trainer, enjoys sports and focuses his life in helping educate other individuals, especially those with a disability similar to his own. "It's my nature to be supportive of other people," he said. Jorgensen is originally from Boston and was born with paralysis due to a difficult birth. "The feet came out first and I got tangled up. The details are not so clear. It was a matter of getting me out or not," he said.
He finished his first semester at College of Marin last December since he decided to come back to school to get a degree on sport psychology.
"He's an extremely unique individual. He shows a passion for educating other students," said Cheryl Goldman, a sport psychology instructor at COM. Jorgensen's classmates had the chance to experience for a period of class a taste of his sporting activities in a wheelchair. "For his final presentation in class he brought in a sport wheelchair for each student and everybody played basketball in wheelchairs. It was a phenomenal experience for the whole class," Goldman said. It took Jorgensen two trips from the East Bay to bring all the wheelchairs. "He really created a true educational experience and made it fun," she said. "There are definitely some exceptional students that I cross path with and he's definitely one of them."
"Nils is an intelligent, bright and very optimistic person. He challenges himself on a daily basis," said classmate Shelly Jones. "He tries to put a smile on people's face everywhere he goes."
Jorgensen started playing wheelchair rugby on the late 80's. The objective of the game is to cross a line with the ball just like in football; however it's played in a basketball court and each team only has four players. In 1990 he got recruited by the Berkeley team and moved to the Bay Area. He stopped playing around 1997.