Alex Taft Just a year ago, Alex Taft was worried about whether he’d complete his junior year of high school after a terrifying car crash kept him out of school for two months. Now the Grace Brethren graduate is celebrating his commencement and thanking his family, friends and teachers for supporting him throughout a difficult year.

On the evening of Feb. 5, 2009, Taft was driving in the pouring rain from his Sylmar home to a friend’s house in Valencia. While he can’t be sure how it happened—Taft has lost all memory of the crash and the few days following it—it’s clear that he encountered a sudden lefthand turn on The Old Road in the Santa Clarita area. He skidded into the intersection, where an oncoming car T-boned his vehicle.

Taft was rushed to the hospital in critical condition and had broken his pelvis and his jaw, both in two places. He also bruised his brain, broke a rib, paralyzed a vocal cord and had a “fairly large” piece of glass shoved up his nose.

Taft spent three weeks in two different hospitals undergoing surgery and beginning rehabilitation.

Taft said his parents and siblings Heather, 28, Kayla, 26, Andrew, 22, visited every day and his mother stayed with him at the hospital.

“There was an intercom where (the nurses) would check in and see if I needed anything,” Taft said. “Because I had paralyzed my vocal cord, I had this raspy voice you couldn’t understand. My mom was like my spokesperson.”

Many of Taft’s friends and some teachers visited him, which he said really lifted his spirits.

“To be completely honest, I had a lot of fun in the hospital,” Taft said. “My friends came and joked around with me—it really lightened the load of the situation.”

Danielle McNally, a fellow graduate, was especially supportive.

“We’ve always been best friends, and I feel confident that she would help me out with anything,” Taft said. “She is a ridiculously good person—she cares so much.”

After leaving the hospital, Taft was at home for a month, and because of his mending jaw he was restricted to an all-liquid diet.

“It was really rough,” said Taft, who lost 21 pounds while in the hospital and has just recently returned to his previous weight. “It was a great day when my doctor told me I could chew again.”

On April 9, Taft drove himself to school.

“My dad just said, ‘He’s got to do it again sometime.”

But when he arrived back at school, Taft realized he had missed more than just his friends.

“I was super behind (academically),” Taft said. “It was really hard jumping back in with everybody. It was pretty difficult, and I was overwhelmed. “

Teachers focused on critical lessons and assignments. They offered after-school help and got Taft signed up for classes and summer work that would assure he completed his junior year.

“Going to a small school, I was a lot closer to my teachers,” Taft said. “From my experience, teachers at Grace Brethren mean what they say, and they really try to be Christ-like examples. It was really good to know that I was being taught by people like that.”

Staff, students and families reached out to the Taft family, sending money, shopping for food and praying for recovery.

Dean Chet Hervey said the staff was “grateful to play even a small role in his recovery.”

“Many young men in his position would have grown frustrated and bitter, but Alex trusted God and was encouraged by his friends to stay positive,” he said. “The character he displayed in his recovery is a testament to the faithfulness of his parents in raising a fine young man.”

Taft missed out on his theater tech class during his junior year and missed the set building and lighting engineering for several productions. So in his senior year he took the class again.

“Before (the crash), I was just kind of sitting there in school,” Taft said. “I didn’t really want to be there, and thought I just wanted to do my time and move on. After, I really wanted to do all the things I could, and I had more drive to get involved.

“I thought, why not go to banquets, why not go to football games, why not do the hard stuff in tech production?”

Taft led the tech crew during several productions this year and loved it. He now plans to attend Moorpark College before transferring to the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles to pursue a career as a sound engineer.