"People tell me I'm brave," says Janelle Strandberg Aieta. "But I'm just doing what I have to do."

Strandberg Aieta, a part-time member of Austin Peay State University's art faculty, is recovering from a July hiking accident that broke her back, but not her spirit. She says she is a little confused by all the attention she has garnered since the accident.

"I think people underestimate themselves," she says. "I don't think anyone would just curl up in a ball and die if something like this happened to them."

Hiking had been a hobby for Strandberg Aieta since high school. In July 1999, she and her husband, Nick Aieta, went to explore Mount St. Helens in Portland, Ore., with some friends.

"It was almost my birthday, and two of our friends hiking with us were about to get married," she says. "It seemed like a good way to celebrate."

Tired from the climb, Strandberg Aieta and her friends stopped short of the mountain's 8,366-foot peak. To hasten their descent down the mountainside, they decided to slide down on a plastic tarp. This energy-saving practice, known as glissading, is common among hikers.

Just a few seconds later, Strandberg Aieta dropped over the 20-foot wall of a hidden crevasse waiting below. Though the impact burst one of her lower vertebrae, none of her fellow hikers were injured.

"I keep thinking I should've been fine," she says. "On the other hand, if it had been two or three vertebrae higher, I may not have been able to walk. So really, I guess I'm just lucky."

Strandberg Aieta spent her 30th birthday, Aug. 1, at Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland. It was there she learned she would walk again, thanks to the efforts of doctors who placed three titanium rods in her back and fused the shattered vertebra with a piece of her pelvis. She remained in the hospital for a week, surrounded by friends and family.

Now, driven by a unique sense of determination, Strandberg Aieta says she is "more cautious, but not going to fear anything." Her spirits are up--she says her only obstacle is the back brace she wears almost constantly, which restricts movements such as bending down or twisting around.

"It's frustrating to be so limited," she says. "I can't wait for the brace to come off." That long-awaited day came at the end of October, when her physical therapy began.

"I've been slowed down a bit [by the injury]," admits Strandberg Aieta, who, despite a very good excuse to take a sick day or two, has remained busier than most. In addition to her teaching post at APSU, she also serves as curator of collections for the Clarksville-Montgomery County Museum.

Her recovery has been marked by media attention, and lots of it. After her accident occurred, Strandberg Aieta saw what she thought were rescue helicopters circling overhead. They turned out to be media helicopters, which arrived first on the scene. Ever since then, the public has been interested in her survival story.

An article about her appeared in Clarksville's "The Leaf-Chronicle," and she has been interviewed by Keith Morrison of "Dateline NBC." At press time the story was slated to air in late January 2000.

Despite the national publicity she has received, Strandberg Aieta remains modest: "I'm getting on with my life."

Strandberg Aieta's future is bright, so bright she even intends to hike again once she is fully recovered. And though she seems a bit reluctant to assume the spotlight, she has accepted her proverbial 15 minutes of fame in the same upbeat way she has handled everything else: with her head held high and her outlook positive.