Venice High Student Overcomes Cerebral Palsy

For Michael Kronick, life has been more about possibilities than impossibilities. About limitless opportunities, not limitations.

Doctors said Kronick, who was born with cerebral palsy, wouldn’t live past age 3, but on Thursday the amiable Venice High School honors student graduated 15th in a class of more than 500 and proved to himself and his classmates that anything is possible.

“Knowing that I’m doing better than most of the able-bodied students has helped me through this,” said Kronick, a quadriplegic who uses a wheelchair. “I’m just as smart as any other kid and all my hard work has finally paid off.”

Kronick did his homework with a voice-activated computer and sometimes dictated homework assignments from his advanced placement classes to his mother and father, Ruth and Ken Kronick. He graduated with a 4.04 grade-point average and scored 1280 on the SAT.

Westside Regional Center, a provider for children and adults with developmental disabilities, provided Kronick with a counselor who will see Kronick through Santa Monica City College.