Skip To Main Content

Hilltop Happenings

RSS Feeds Subscribe to Alerts
Salisbury Welcomed Paraolympian Chris Waddell As Guest Speaker
Shana Stalker
Guest Speaker Chris Waddell with HOS Will Webb, students and Associate Head Bobby Wynne

"It's not what happens to you, it's what you do with what happens to you." Chris Waddell, a seven-time Paralympian, earned 13 Paralympic medals in alpine skiing and track and field, cementing his place as one of Team USA’s most successful two-sport athletes. Chris now runs the One Revolution Foundation- their motto, “It’s not what happens to you, it’s what you do with what happens to you.”  The One Revolution Foundation aims to change the perception of disability through education and storytelling. 

His talk asked this of our boys: "What is on your nametag?" (student, athlete, friend, etc.) What if one is taken away - what are the others that remain?"  To answer this he outlined his 4 Ss of Resilience:

  •     Self - victim vs. survivor
  •     Situation - overwhelming or a challenge
  •     Support - alone or part of a team
  •     Strategy - one or many

Chris engaged our community in this thoughtful conversation and drew from our boys a positive way of thinking and approaching disability. Thank you to Chris for encouraging change in the way we perceive disability.

Chris Waddell, is also known as the most decorated male monoskier in U.S. history. Waddell was a skier at Middlebury College before a skiing accident left him paralyzed from the waist down. Competing in his first Paralympic Games at France in 1992, Waddell took home two silver medals in slalom and giant slalom. In 1994 at the following games in Norway, he clinched four gold medals (downhill, slalom, super slalom, super-G), along with one gold and two silvers at the 1998 Paralympics in Japan (downhill, slalom, super-G). From the slopes and onto the track two years later in 2000, nothing was different, as Waddell earned silver in the track and field 200-meter at the games in Sydney. Waddell added three more medals, one silver, and two bronzes, to his count at the 2002 games in Salt Lake City, competing in downhill, slalom, and giant slalom. Throughout his career, he has spent 11 years on the U.S. Paralympics Alpine Skiing National team winning 32 national titles.