Student overcomes physical adversity and earns Medal of Inspiration Award

Paul Wright, a student at Western Washington University, received Beta Alpha Psi’s Medal of Inspiration Award.

Sponsored by the AICPA, the award recognizes a student who has experienced extreme hardships and who has demonstrated an unusually high level of success despite that adversity. Beta Alpha Psi is an honorary organization for financial information students and professionals.

Wright was born with arthrogryposis, a nongenetic, nonprogressive disability that includes stiff joints and missing muscle. He endured multiple surgeries before he turned 16.

Wright graduated from high school while participating in a program that allowed him to take classes at a community college at the same time.

At the university in Bellingham, Wash., Wright became an accounting major and joined Beta Alpha Psi. He worked with the university’s disability resource center and his local BAP chapter to start streaming organizational meetings to students who could not physically attend.

Wright plans to graduate in the spring of 2014.