Almost a dozen students greet him as he takes his journey to class. Half of those students know his name, while the others speak to him because they know he’ll always say hello back with a smile.

Smiling is just one of his many traits. He’s traveled out of the country on mission trips, assisted with building houses for the less fortunate and plays sports all while smiling in his wheelchair.

Logan Knox, senior communications major and West Monroe native, was born with Spina Bifida.

The birth defect caused Logan to be paralyzed from the waist down, leaving him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Some students complain about being constrained to a desk for 50 minutes in a classroom, but Logan said he’s lucky.

Instead of comparing himself to a person who can walk, he compares his mobility to the worst situation there is to him: being dependent.

“I knew people in the past who’ve had Spina Bifida too. I’m more mobile than the rest of them,” said Knox. “I can move my legs a little bit, I just can’t walk.  They can’t move their legs at all. They need help moving out of the chair. I don’t need all that help.”

Students will often offer help to Knox by opening the doors for him, moving chairs so he can sit at a table or even offer to roll him in his wheelchair, but if he had it his way he wouldn’t get help from anyone. Rather, he’d be the one offering his help.

Earlier this year, rolling on a mission, wet muddy soil covered the entire lot where a new home will soon be built for a family in Mexico.

Looking at the grounds, he panicked. Knox thought there would be no way he could be of any help.

But, these were only assumptions. He knew he wanted to help out in any way, but didn’t know how.

“I didn’t want to rip up the yard or get stuck and be in the way more than I would be helping,” said Logan. “I was just thinking about it the way that I would think about it, not how someone else would think about it.”

His peers thought the exact opposite.

Mary Rhymes and Lexes Boyd both sit on the board of Leadership at the Wesley with Logan.

Rhymes and Boyd said despite Logan’s problems with getting around the mud, he was still helpful.

“He was trying to help us as much as he could, but getting his wheelchair around in places is kind of hard. I felt so bad because I wanted to help him but he wouldn’t let us,” said Boyd, a sophomore elementary education major. “He nailed in some nails.”

“When it was time to do electrical stuff in the inside he helped out with that,” said Rhymes, a sophomore biology major.

Making the world a better place is Logan’s main goal in life. Through his written poetry, he talks about world peace and educating people on joining together.

His first step is by helping people.

“I believe people should do it more. I like helping people, I just don’t like help,” said Logan.