Six local Special Olympians are participating today in the State Games in Atlanta.
Carter Cruce, CJ McGuire, Sean Smith, Joey Rivard (pictured), and two others will represent White County during the event at Emory.
Organizers planned a community sendoff for the athletes as they left from Cleveland First Baptist Church Friday morning.
Special Olympian makes national news
It wasn’t a ‘sendoff’ but rather a ‘welcome back’ that put one Habersham County Special Olympian in the national spotlight recently.
After the local Games at Raider Stadium on April 13th, Hazel Grove Elementary School gave Ella Chambers a BIG surprise. The entire school welcomed her back with a banner and cheers. “We sent out an email asking each class to come out and celebrate Ella,” Hazel Grove Elementary School principal Frank Blackburn told GMA. “I had a teacher make a banner and every student in the school signed it.”
Ella’s mom, Renee Chambers, captured the whole thing on video. The heartwarming story made its way to national news when ABC’s Good Morning America ran the segment.
“She was so stunned,” Ella’s mom, Renee Chambers, told GMA. Ella is the only kid in her school with Down syndrome. “All the kids love her,” Chambers said. “She’s been there since kindergarten. Everyone was so excited to see her.”
The school didn’t share their plan with the Chambers family ahead of time. Ella’s sister Audrey, who is a second-grader at Hazel Grove, was just as surprised.
Blackburn told GMA, “I tell my teachers I want two things from them, to love our students and to teach them. We celebrate every child at Hazel Grove Elementary. Ella is just one of our Hazel Grove Rams.”
To view photos of Habersham County’s 46th Annual Special Olympics, click here.
WRWH Radio contributed to this report. Featured photo courtesy of wrwh.com.
