If you look at Sylvia Bogusz’s resume, you might reach the conclusion that she is just another college over-achiever. But you’d just be getting a small part of her story.
That’s because nowhere in the South Kingstown resident’s summary of academic and professional accomplishments does she list her triumphs over near-fatal injuries she suffered when a drunken driver ran into her June 23, 2007. The incident, during which she was struck by a vehicle going 100 miles per hour and subsequently thrown 125 feet, happened just a week after her graduation from South Kingstown High School and a week after she had already begun classes in the University of Rhode Island’s Talent Development Program.
Bogusz suffered traumatic brain injury, a shattered right arm, fractures to her pelvis and vertebrae, an injured liver and multiple infections, but her will was left intact and she’ll earn her bachelor’s degree in communication studies and Italian from the University of Rhode Island May 18. After the incident, she needed a feeding tube and was in a coma for four months while at Rhode Island Hospital. She was unable to communicate for 128 days. She completed lengthy stays in rehabilitation facilities and continues to get physical therapy.