Artist Inspires Parkville High's Sophomores

Almost 20 years ago at Parkville High School, a student rolled across the stage to receive his diploma. That student would go on to become a renowned artist: he's been featured in a Super Bowl commercial, won an Academy Award in 2000 and his work hangs in private collections between art world giants Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.

Back then, though, Dan Keplinger was just another student.

To check out the Super Bowl commercial featuring Keplinger click on the video attached to this article and check out this gallery of his art here on Patch.

On Thursday, Keplinger returned to his alma mater for the first time to speak to the sophomore class about following their dreams.

Keplinger developed cerebral palsy at birth after his brain was starved of oxygen for a full minute. But, he told 10th graders at a Thursday morning assembly, he doesn't carry any anger toward the doctors who delivered him.

"I'm not angry because it would be a waste of my time," Keplinger said by way of his wife and interpreter Dena Keplinger. Keplinger is difficult to understand when he speaks on his own, but Dena is able to relay his thoughts clearly.

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"You make and you receive the mistakes of others and it only makes you a better person—everything you do in life adds to the path you take," Keplinger said.

After attending the Ridge School from the time he was 18 months old, Keplinger transitioned to mainstream education when he began high school. He told students he knew it would be harder, but that it was something he felt he could handle; the transition, though, was not without its share of difficulties.

Keplinger told students that homework that took his classmates an hour would take him five and that at times he was socially ostracized.

"Most of the time I didn't let it get to me," Keplinger said. He offered some advice to the incoming upperclassmen.

"Even the smallest act can make another person feel better and if that person feels better, they might do something else—it carries on and gets bigger," Keplinger said.

"How you say and do things—you get more done by thinking smart," he said. "It's so easy to focus on the negative, but it's a job for you to create good mojo."