Wheelchair-bound college student surprises parents on graduation day

Gerene TeKippe has relied on a wheelchair to get around since the eighth grade. She surprised her parents on graduation day at St. Ambrose University in Iowa by walking to accept her degree.

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“I think I was just surprised the whole time,” said her mother, Sherri TeKippe. “(My husband) looked at me and said, ‘Did you know she was going to do that?’ and I said, ‘No, I didn’t know that.'”

Gerene TeKippe said her parents raised her to be headstrong.

"If you want to do something, you've got to figure out a way to get it done," she told WQAD.