When he ran high school track, 5-foot-tall Stevelyn Robinson used to fly over chest-high hurdles.

But that was nothing compared to his athletic performance at Holmes Community College’s commencement ceremony.

Supported by a rolling walker and the cheers of the crowd, the 23-year-old Winona resident rose from his wheelchair and slowly crossed the stage to receive his associate’s degree.

“You can do it,” someone shouted. And Patricia Oyarce never doubted that he would.

For a seasoned cyclist like Robert Tierce, riding the 60-some-odd miles from his Ridgeland home to Kosciusko may not sound like a Herculean task.

“I used to ride a road bike anywhere from 60 to 70 miles a time, no problem,” he said.

But now, it is quite a feat. Nearly two years ago his right leg was completely paralyzed by a spinal cord injury from a gunshot wound.

Tierce made the jaunt using a recumbent bicycle, which places the rider in a reclining position. 

Annette Young of Jackson has a heart of gold, say her former coworkers at Wal-Mart in Clinton.

“If anyone fell on hard luck, she’d say: We’ve got to get out on the sidewalk and raise some money,” said Wal-Mart manager Eddie Robinson. “If you needed something done, she was always the one to go to. And it takes a very special person to be thinking of someone else no matter what they’re going through.”

Tony Hayes of Jackson nearly missed the April ceremony where he was named 2017 Tech of the Year by the American Association of Electrodiagnostic Technologists.

Spring storms stretched a two-hour flight to Washington, D.C. into a 12-hour slog through three out-of-the-way airports.

But Hayes was determined not to miss the recognition. Kudos can be hard to come by in his profession. He literally gets on people’s nerves for a living.