These past few months have been great. Lets break down some of my favorite stories.
Fall Championships 2025:
Last year, more than 1,200 athletes took the stage at the 2025 Fall Championships, celebrating diversity and team spirit across seven sports. The event took place in Virginia Beach with the support of 800 volunteers and 200 coaches. The seven sports featured included golf, volleyball, pickleball, bocce, bowling, soccer, and roller skating. As a fellow Special Olympics athlete, I love practicing and giving it your all for championship events. I really enjoy whenever I go to my Basketball Championships, as they are always a lot of fun and give me a great workout too.
For more in-depth detail, Read the story here
Nathan Horton found his voice:
Last year, as the only athlete on Special Olympics Virginia’s Board of Directors, Nathon Horton made sure athlete voices stayed connected to every decision. From the court to the boardroom, he is leading with lived experience. I really connected with Nathon’s story because, like him, I know what it feels like to want your voice to matter. I have sometimes felt invisible and unheard in certain parts of my life, and I try to be a positive voice for others who need one. I’m really glad Nathon is an advocate for athletes and for the disability community, especially since I have done similar work myself by giving multiple speeches to different audiences and demographics in support of inclusion.
For more information on this story, click here
Xperience Tennis Brings National Competition to Charlottesville:
Earlier this year, top Special Olympics tennis athletes from across the country returned to Charlottesville for their annual event. The competition was held January 2nd–4th at Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Virginia. Athletes from 13 states were represented, with Virginia being represented by Don Pericle and Chris Raupp. Both Virginia athletes performed well, with Chris Raupp finishing 3rd in Division 2-A and Don Pericle finishing 4th in Division 2-B. While I did not compete, I previously had the opportunity to speak at the Opening Ceremony at an Xperience Tennis event, and it was an experience I really enjoyed. That made it even more exciting for me to see Chris and Don have such strong performances this year.
For more information and detail, click here
What I’ve been up to at Special Olympics Virginia
Stop-Motion Polar Plunge Project
I pitched to do an animated Stop-Motion Project dedicated Polar Plunge. It was created and used for the purposes of storytelling, promotion, engagement, education, social content, and event storytelling. The reason why this was created was to bring energy and creativity to the event, showcasing the experience in a new way, and engaging audiences. I was able to bring this project to fruition through concept development, planning, shooting process, editing, and collaboration. There were by all accounts certain challenges here and there, such as balancing this project with finishing up college, but I did what I could to put in the effort to make something cool and creative.
Athlete Bio Cards
I helped create Athlete Bio cards for multiple participants of the Special Olympics Virginia organization. These were used for the purposes of storytelling, marketing, athlete recognition, and community engagement. I did my best to properly set up and work on Layout choices, photography selection, writing athlete stories, and collaborated with my fellow coworkers for thoughts and feedback. These tools matter because of the utmost importance of amplifying athlete voices and strengthening connection with the community.
