JACKSON TEEN POUNDS ZYLOPHONE FROM CHAIR

As the freshman band at Jackson High School tromps onto the football field, Matt Smith quietly rolls onto it.

And, while the other musicians march in formation on the chalk-marked grass, he sits in his wheelchair, pounding out the melody on his xylophone.

He knows people are watching the marching band member who doesn't march, but the stares aren't his concern.

It's getting the notes right.

Smith is Don and Vella Smith's youngest of three children and only son.

In June 1991, he was shooting targets in the back yard of the family's rural Jackson home.

Another gunman accidentally fired, hitting part of Smith's backbone, which affected his spinal cord.

A helicopter flew Smith to Southeast Missouri Hospital, and his mother and father knew within hours he would be paralyzed from the waist down.

After three months of recovery and rehabilitation at Children's Hospital in St. Louis, he came home.

"Everything changed," Don Smith said.

"We had to remodel the house and change every door so Matt could get through it. We built ramps to the doors, black-topped the driveway, bought a van and put a chairlift in it."

Other things didn't change.

Though in a wheelchair, Smith had to keep active and make good grades.

His parents encouraged him to try everything, to the point where neighbors asked if he ever went inside the house.

His father, for example, taught him to ride horses, outfitted a four-wheeler so he could travel.

Even though Smith initially jumped at any gunshot-like sound, he actively hunts now, shooting targets as he did before the accident.

Trying new things was difficult and frightening at first, but he adjusted easily.

Because of his love for drums, band was a natural extra-curricular choice for Smith.

The accident and other factors put him a year behind the other drummers.

Again, the Smiths worked with their son, enrolling him in private drum lessons at Southeast Missouri State University so he could catch up.

Jackson Band Director Scott Vangilder said he has almost caught up.

Vangilder, familiar with teaching disabled students, said he made few exceptions for Smith.

Smith can't play some percussion instruments, but most are accessible.

"Matt isn't here because he is in a wheelchair," Vangilder said. "He's here because he can play the instruments and he wants to do it."

The only exception made for Smith is students carry his xylophone from the band room to the field.

Vangilder and fellow director Pat Schwent credited Smith's parents for helping him adjust, noting that the couple never expected any special treatment for him.

Smith's first marching band performance was Sept. 23 at the Sikeston-Jackson football game.

"With the band, I don't think they pay any attention to my wheelchair, but I thought the audience might be looking," Smith said.

"But that doesn't bother me anymore."

He is undecided about participating in the high school marching band next year.

His true interests lie in architecture and conservation.

His parents want him to continue playing, however, and Vella Smith said she imagines his wheelchair equipped with a snare drum holder and another student pushing her son into formation.

"Matt doing this is opening doors for other handicapped kids and their parents who think they can't do this," she said.

"When an accident happens, you forever think why it did and what good could come of it," she said. "But Matt can prove there is something good coming out of this."