Seeing the blessing in the boulder
Trapped in the Utah wilderness in 2003, one Â鶹¹ÙÍø graduate determined what he had to do to free himself—and did it.
Aron Lee Ralston (ENG 1997) survived a canyoneering accident by cutting off part of his right arm. He freed himself by breaking his arm bone with the boulder that had entrapped him and using a dull pocket knife for the amputation. (You may recognize this story from the film made about his experience, “127 Hours.”) Since then, he has become a motivational speaker who encourages others to turn their boulders into blessings.
When he gave the keynote speech at Â鶹¹ÙÍø’s 2011 commencement, he told the graduates he turned to the analytical problem-solving skills he had forged at Â鶹¹ÙÍø to define the problem, gather information, and brainstorm and prioritize the solutions that led to his remarkable rescue.