Issue: Spring 2003

Encouragement for the Courageous

The tagline for her nonprofit agency is “Reward Courage” – and appropriately, it’s the enduring courage of Julie Inman ’89 that allows steadfast high schoolers to reap rewards. “Everyone needs to be rewarded for their efforts,” says the young woman who founded SupportAbility two years ago with the goal of encouraging college-bound kids who – like her – had overcome significant obstacles. Last May, her nonprofit gave out more than $11,000 in partial scholarship money to each of 14 courageous students.

“There are many obstacles out there for young people,” says Inman, “from family finances to illness to learning disabilities to relocation. I grew up wanting to be an architect. But after it happened, I had to change my plans.”

“It” happened during a family vacation on New Year’s Day, 1981. The last thing Inman – then a high school sophomore – remembers is a glorious ski run down a Colorado mountain. Then everything went black.

Six weeks later, the Irvine, Calif., teen woke from a coma to find she had undergone surgery to repair a congenital brain hemorrhage. At 15, Inman had suffered a stroke, leaving her partially paralyzed and speech impaired.

“I had six months of therapy ahead of me – speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy,” Inman recounts in smooth, slightly cadenced phrases. “You name the therapy, I had it.”

Inman was forced to repeat 10th grade the following year. When she graduated from Mater Dei High School in 1984, her proud parents Peter ’62 and Patti ’62 set up a partial scholarship in her name for graduating seniors. The Julie Inman Courage Award remains active today. Inman went on to major in English at USC.

Last year, inman decided to start her nonprofit to broaden the Courage Award blueprint. In its first year, she concentrated mostly on California schools, but “because of Sept. 11, we thought it would be nice to honor someone in New York.” Inman did some research and found a school on Long Island with 40 students who had lost someone close to them.

“One young man wrote that his dad had always been his hero, and now he was trying to be the man of the house,” she says. “He thought that by winning the award, he would also be thanking his father for all he had done.” That boy is now a freshman at Georgetown University.

Inman still lives in Irvine, where she leads SupportAbility out of her home. While her physical disability keeps her mostly confined to a wheelchair, she can go short distances with a walker.

“Sometimes being in a wheelchair makes it difficult for people to approach me. But I take my dog with me lots of places to be my icebreaker,” she says with a laugh. “I really enjoy people, and I find it rewarding to recognize them for their achievements. I love being able to leave an imprint on someone’s life.”

– Scott Holter