Jarrod Brown thankful for his Subiaco ‘family’

‘Brotherhood’ of students supported Brown after multiple surgeries

Published: June 3, 2016

By Dwain Hebda
Little Rock Correspondent

Jarrod Brown receives his diploma May 14 from Abbot Leonard Wangler during graduation at Subiaco Academy. Brown overcame several surgeries to repair a birth defect during his senior year at the school.

Jarrod Brown didn’t know what he was in for when he arrived at Subiaco Academy as a seventh-grader. As a new graduate, he doesn’t know what he would have done without it.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity,” he said. “I originally didn’t plan on ever going to the Academy, but in sixth grade I decided I needed a better opportunity to learn.”

“I have to say, I really liked the closeness of everyone at the school. We were all pretty much there for the same purpose.”

At first blush, Subiaco Academy and Brown, second son of Vance and Carrie Brown, had little in common. His older brother didn’t attend the school and the family isn’t Catholic. But Brown quickly found out just how little any of that mattered.

“When I moved here…I moved away from my family and (Subiaco) really showed me what it was like to have a lot of support from a large body of people,” he said.

The small-school environment also gave him the opportunity to experience much, from athletics (track and football) to the arts (drama, piano and guitar) to academics (National Honor Society). More importantly, it created a bond of family he didn’t know was possible.

Approaching his final year, Brown thought he appreciated Subiaco Academy to the fullest, but the most pronounced demonstration of brotherhood was yet to come. Brown walked out of junior year and directly into the first of three surgeries on his feet and ankles to correct a birth defect, costing him weeks of missed classroom time.

“I was born with a severe case of flat feet and it caused bones to grow together and I also have a large amount of tissue damage. Basically, I have an extreme case of plantar fasciitis,” he said. “I’m about 65 percent healed from it, and I still have some surgeries to go through. I still have to heal a lot.

“The teachers told me. ‘Do the work and we’ll help you with it as much as we can.’ Really, it was a lot of having to work through a lot of pain, work through being drugged up from surgeries. The school gave me a lot of support and I really appreciate them letting me graduate.”

Despite the operations, Brown walked the graduation stage on schedule and will soon enroll in junior college in Colorado. As he packed the last of his things into the car for the long ride there, he took a moment to soak in just a little more of the place that had come to mean so much to him.

“If I could tell everyone there something, I would tell them I loved them to death. I love each and every one of them, especially all of my classmates,” he said. “They provided me the support and love that I couldn’t imagine ever receiving anywhere else. I thank every one of them for the experiences that I’ve gained and the support that I’ve had.”

Click for the Catholic graduates 2016 index