Recent Class of 2007 graduate Jeffrey Delgado has never let anything deter him from pursuing his education, including the challenge of living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a degenerative disease that cripples muscle strength.

Confined to a wheelchair since age 12, Jeffrey persevered through six years as an undergraduate—three at a community college and three at Roger Williams—to earn his business management degree.

“It’s been a lot of hard work, and nobody has given me a free pass,” Jeffrey says. “But I think that’s a good thing—I’ve always enjoyed hard work.”

Jeffrey’s work ethic and determination paid off, earning him one of 12 President’s Core Values Medallion awarded during Commencement to students who embody the core values of the University.

Even with his determination, however, Jeffrey is quick to point out that he received enormous support on campus, especially from the University’s Gabelli School of Business.

“Each semester they made sure my classes were on the first level of the building, and they allowed me more time on tests if I needed it,” he says. “They really worked with me and tried to understand my disability.”

With his goal of graduation complete, Jeffrey has set his sights on an even bigger challenge—championing the needs of others with disabilities by starting his own nonprofit, Freedom Access Captioning. Jeffrey’s organization will train aides in C-Print, speech-to-text computer software and an ideal note-taking program for someone with limited mobility. After he gets up and running, he plans to market a low-cost aide service to disabled students across the region.

To put his plan into action, Jeffrey teamed with two Roger Williams professors to formulate a business plan and navigate the legal hurdles of establishing a nonprofit.

“Jeffrey will provide the link that isn’t currently there,” says Thomas Langdon, associate professor of business law and one of Jeffrey’s mentors. “He has an advantage, as he knows the market and has used the product. And he’s not just rolling the dice—he has researched to see how useful C-Print is and how much it will help people.”

Back home in his native Taunton, Mass., Jeffrey is hard at work on his nonprofit, which the 24-year-old says he hopes to establish by the end of the summer. With one chapter of his life closed and the next as an entrepreneur set to start, he looks back positively on his Roger Williams experience and his quest for a degree.

“I’ve learned to never settle,” he says. “And I’ve learned to always dream big, because dreams do come true.”