Casey Brown
A&E Editor
@CaseyBrown_CU
At age sixteen Nick Scott was paralyzed from the chest down in a car accident. Today, he is a world famous body builder, an award-winning ballroom dancer and a professional model.
Scott appeared on campus on at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 23 to speak to over one hundred CU students, staff and community members. Disability Services, the Athletics Department and PAC hosted the event.
Before the event officially kicked off, Scott sat at the front of the room next to another man in a wheelchair, Carlos Dominguez. Dominguez saw Scott on YouTube and brought the idea to Director of Student Development Dr. Jennifer Pruchnicki.
“Before my accident, I was really big into fitness,” Dominguez said. “So, you know, I didn’t want to stop. I actually found him when I was in rehab in Oklahoma City.”
Dominguez was inspired by Scott’s commitment to fitness and bodybuilding despite his accident.
“I really didn’t want to stop with fitness, so going on his website and seeing all of the other bodybuilders,” Dominguez said. “I found him and there was a whole bunch of other bodybuilders.
“You know, I’m paralyzed from the chest down. Technically I’m a quadriplegic. I don’t have fine motor skills with my hands. Just seeing how he doesn’t care – that kind of attitude just kind of grasped me.
“I know there is a good chance that I’m not going to walk again, and I’ve accepted that. Just being able to see him and the other body builders and their attitude and their passion for lifting just kind of gave me hope, you know.”
As Scott told his story and shared his message, he wheeled around the stage in his customized wheelchair, which includes rims and neon lights.
His message is that the right mindset can lead people to their wildest dreams.
“It is very simple,” Scott said. “If you think you can do it, you are going to try and focus on that nonstop and you will think about it constantly. As soon as you think you can’t do it, you’re not going to do it, so you’ve already convinced yourself that you can’t do it.”
One of Scott’s personal goals was to have the professional wheelchair bodybuilding category added to the International Federation of Professional Body Building competition. That goal was realized in 2011.
Nick repeated his inspirational messages such as “Your worth is greater than you think,” and “It’s all about impacting others. Every one of you has a God-given gift that you can use to give back to the people on this earth,” and “To succeed in life you have to reach for something outside of yourself.”
He reiterated, “If I can do it, so can you.”
Throughout the talk, audience members laughed and clapped at Scott’s story and message. The audience consisted of many members of CU’s various athletics teams.
Tyler McKinzie, a psychology major and baseball player, attended because he said he thought Scott’s message would be cool.
“He kept it really light and he kept it really fun, and it turned the whole thing into a really positive message,” McKinzie said. “He just kept reiterating how anything is possible and you can do whatever you set your mind to, and that is what I really liked more than anything. I mean every baseball player’s dream it to make it to the [big leagues] some day, so to hear something like that from a guy in his situation is really special.”
The message will stick with McKinzie, “From now on, whenever I feel like I can’t do something, I am probably going to think back to him.”