My son's college diploma is still on the kitchen counter. It's been there for more than two weeks now, sandwiched between a stack of unread mail and a bowl of ripening fruit. I can't put it away yet, relegate it to the box of school papers I keep for him in the basement.

Periodically I flip the cover open and read: Luke A. Schmitmeyer, Bachelor of Science - and breathe a sigh of relief.

For some, obtaining a college degree is part of a natural progression of life experiences: Elementary and high school, getting a driver's license, going to college, finding a job. For others, though, it is more a matter of taking an academic plunge, and then putting one foot in front of the next until you reach your goal. Luke followed the latter approach.

A rambunctious, adventuresome child, Luke grew up "without a sittin' bone in his body." From the moment he was born, he was on the move. I remember how, when not quite 2-years-old, he scampered up a rickety barn ladder to the haymow where I found him nestled amid a litter of newborn kittens.

Luke liked to learn, just not in the classroom; he preferred the woods behind our home as his training ground. There, he rode a dirt bike and hunted small game, built a tree house and, under the guidance of his older brother, designed a racetrack for their remote-controlled cars.

Ever impatient, Luke even learned patience while playing outdoors. When 9 or 10 years of age, he liked to see how close he could get to the deer that licked the salt block behind our barn. When the deer looked up and saw him watching, Luke would stand stalk still, meeting their gaze head on. When the deer looked away, Luke crept closer. He repeated this ritual until the wary wildlife, only 15 feet away, darted to the safety of the woods. For a boy who couldn't sit still, Luke could demonstrate remarkable control when it was important to him.

The classroom, though, was a different matter. Learning to spell was particularly challenging, and Luke labored over the weekly grade school spelling tests. My husband and I tried different ways to encourage him, like displaying good grades on the refrigerator or giving him a quarter for the words spelled correctly. But it was difficult for him to build on what he learned. Words always seemed new to him, even after he encountered them numerous times in a story.

Eventually, Luke was diagnosed with a learning disability, a neurologically based processing problems that interfered with his ability to learn basic skills such as reading and writing. He is among the four to six percent of students today who are considered learning disabled.

While having such a disability makes learning more difficult, it does not make it impossible. Under the right set of circumstances — a quiet testing area, extended time to complete assignments, even tape-recorded textbooks — students with learning disabilities can succeed, even at the college level. Luke received some of these accommodations both in high school and in college, and what a difference they made.

The diploma — a degree in mechanical engineering technology attained after six years of study — might mark the end of Luke's formal education, but the lesson learned will last a lifetime: Life is about setting goals, and then working hard to attain them.

Linda K. Schmitmeyer is a freelance writer living in Middlesex Township. Her e-mail address is lks260@zoominternet.net.