Son's Autism Leads to U

Thomas Zumbado was destined to be a U student - at least once his son Vincent was born. That was 1999 in North Carolina. Zumbado, who'd never lived in Utah, wouldn't enroll at the U until fall 2004. Zumbado, a political science and geography major at the U, graduated high school in 1991 one of three children of parents who immigrated to Los Angeles from Costa Rica.

"When I graduated high school I was thinking get a job, get married and get a house. Higher education was the farthest thing from my mind," remarks Zumbado.

Unsure of a career path, Tom enlisted in the U.S. Army for a two-year commitment. Two years became five spent at Fort Sill in Oklahoma and Fort Bragg in North Carolina. In 1996, Zumbado left the Army and became a volunteer fireman - a position that soon turned into a full-time spot at the Raleigh International Airport Fire Department.

In 1999, Tom married his wife, Lisa. Later that year, their son Vincent was born. At eighteen months, Vincent began forgetting some simple words he'd learned and exhibiting some other behavior that worried his parents. Vincent had autism.

"I'm so mortified that the biggest cross in my family is being carried by him and not by me," Zumbado admits.

That belief drove Tom, Lisa and other family members to seek out the very best services to help Vincent. They learned about the Carmen Pingree School for Children with Autism in Salt Lake City. The school evaluated Vincent and assured the Zumbados they could do a lot for him. Within a year of the evaluation, Tom and Lisa left Raleigh to enroll Vincent in the Pingree School.

"I loved being a fireman but I'd work on an off-shore oil rig to get him (Vincent) where he needs to be," Tom exclaims.

Serendipity wasn't done with the Zumbados. When they arrived in Salt Lake City, Lisa noted that the Pingree School was blocks from the U's main campus. She encouraged Tom to apply for admission.

"By my later years in the Army, and then as a fireman, I lamented not going to school," said Zumbado. "I felt unfulfilled - I felt like there was stuff out there that I didn't know . . . I felt disconnected with the world."

Tom's acceptance to the University of Utah came as a surprise.

"I'm the first of my family to go to a university. My father worked for 35 years in a steel foundry and as a maintenance mechanic," explains Tom. "Me, my dad and my mom, we all cried when the U accepted me."

"I wouldn't be at the U without my kid."