For many, walking the stage at graduation symbolizes the obstacles we've overcome: late-night study sessions, mounds of homework, hours of dedication to clubs and sports and the like. But for 23-year-old Chris Norton, walking the stage at graduation was his obstacle -- actually, he was told he would never walk anywhere, ever again. Until he did.

In 2010, Chris fractured his spine during a football game and was paralyzed. According to NBC News, he was told that he had only a three percent chance of ever walking again period, never mind walking just five years later at his college graduation.

After years of physical therapy and immeasurable determination, Chris made it his goal to walk at the ceremony. With the help of his fiancée, Emily Summers, he did just that.

"My graduation walk was what I considered my game day or Olympic event," Chris told NBC News. Like a true team player, Chris started his own organization called the SCI CAN Foundation to raise money for victims of spinal-cord injuries and neurological disorders who may not have access to the equipment he did in his recovery.

"So many people, including myself, fear failure, it's human," said Chris, "But if you do everything in your power to accomplish your dreams, at the end of the day, you can be proud and happy with how far you've come."

Words to live by, for the graduate in all of us.