While a student at GHS, Nicholas Van Dyke broke neck in biking
accident
Gilroy – On the parade grounds of The Citadel, a young Gilroy man some thought would have trouble ever walking again, marched up to the podium and picked up his diploma, graduating magna cum laude with a degree in physics.
Located in Charleston, S.C., The Citadel is one of America’s most prestigious military academies. And at its May 6 graduation, 22-year-old Nicholas Van Dyke faced a moment more victorious than just another commencement day ritual.
During his freshman year at Gilroy High School, he broke his neck in a BMX biking accident in his backyard. His C-2 vertebrae – notoriously known as the hangman’s vertebrae – had been severely damaged.
“I just wiped out,” he recalls of that day. “I got tired and sloppy and boom! The front tire went down and I went over the handle bars and landed on my head.”
At Kaiser Hospital, Van Dyke was under the care of one of the best neurosurgeons on the west coast, but the teenager never had surgery because over months of convalescence, the injury healed on his own, making him a subject of medical journals.
“I had to sign releases after I was fine so they could use my records as research,” he said.
In 2002 with his graduation from Gilroy High School approaching, Van Dyke longed to go to the United State Naval Academy in Annapolis. However, his 2.8 grade point average wasn’t high enough to get him into the esteemed military college. Then he heard about The Citadel.
“One of my friends in high school introduced it to me because we’re both military oriented,” he said. “My original plan was to go there and then transfer to Annapolis.”
That spring, Van Dyke was accepted into the private military academy, and life at The Citadel was unlike anything Van Dyke had ever experienced.
“It was a big culture shock,” he said. “Sometimes it seemed silly – like cleaning the floor with a toothbrush. I’d wonder, ‘why are we going into such detail?’ And then I realized there’s a very good reason behind that.”
The reason was to learn strict discipline, to follow orders, and to build a sense of camaraderie with fellow classmates, he said.
After a year at The Citadel, Van Dyke found he made so many “friends for life” he decided to stay on at the Charleston military college for three more years.
In his junior year, he found himself in charge of 84 cadets, but between this job and other duties, he still found enough time to study hard and graduate with a 3.76 grade point average.
At the graduation ceremony, several professors told Peter Van Dyke, Nicholas’s father, how much they appreciated the enthusiasm and competence of the young man.
“Many professors and retired colonels came up and said he would be sadly missed,” Peter said. “He was a great asset to the school and some of the physics and math professors said he was one of the best students they’d ever had. That makes for one proud pappy.”
Peter described the graduation as a very proud moment for the entire Van Dyke family. The night before, during Nicholas’s commissioning as a ensign in the Navy (the equivalent of second lieutenant in the Army), Peter pinned the “boards” on his son’s shoulders.
“There was a lot of excitement and elation at the graduation,” Peter said. “There was a mix of families, a broad mix of what America is racially and culturally.”
For the near future, Nicholas wants to serve in the Navy’s SEALs (Sea Air and Land) operations. This summer, he will report to the Navy’s Coronado base in San Diego and start the arduous BUDS (Basic Underwater Demolition School) training to fulfill this goal.
As a SEAL, Nicholas knows he’ll be sent to fight in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. During his years at The Citadel, he met colonels and battalion leaders who described to the cadets what to expect.
“Every guy who comes back has a hugely optimistic view compared to what you see on TV,” he said. “They love the people of Iraq and how much fun they have with them, playing soccer with the kids and stuff like that. But they definitely don’t make it all nice and flowery.”
Ten Citadel graduates have been killed in the current war in Iraq and Afghanistan, Nicholas said. And the conflict personally touched him in 2004 when he found out fellow Gilroy High graduate Marine Lance Cpl. Jeremy Ailes was killed serving in Iraq.
As any parent with a son or daughter in the military, Peter Van Dyke has his deep concerns about his son’s career choice. “That’s a scary thought for me, but I’m proud of what wants to do,” he said. “I’m confident in his ability and his intellect.”
Nicholas’s training at The Citadel also will help in making him a good leader, Peter added. “He got a really good, disciplined education, a super strong character, and integrity and self-confidence,” he said. “He got a lot from that school. It’s very disciplined and very structured. I think he’s going to be a good leader and very successful in his endeavors.”
Peter knows his young son, who if it wasn’t for a medical miracle might never have walked again, will walk proudly in serving his country.
