People often affect others without realizing it, as Arturo Granados ’16 learned last spring after he volunteered with the Special Olympics of Montgomery County.
Granados and his teammates helped the Little Giant swimmers coach a Special Olympic basketball practice on a Sunday afternoon in late December.
“We have one girl who doesn’t talk to anyone except her mom,” local athletic director for the Special Olympics Kylee Wills says. “She isn’t easily motivated, but Arturo went over to her and whispered something in her ear and she suddenly popped to life. He had her running down the court. I’ve been with her for nine years and have never seen that.”
The freshman didn’t think too much of his actions.
“I wasn’t aware I was encouraging her to do better than normal,” Granados says. “I was just saying ‘You can do it’ and ‘Good job.’”
Later in the week, Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) team representative Adam Barnes emailed the Little Giant swimmers to describe Granados’ good work.
“I was surprised when Adam emailed the whole team saying that someone did something great and I was told it was me,” Granados says.
“In the first exercise, the task was to throw the ball into the middle of the square on the wall. I tried to encourage her in the next drill, which was dribbling the ball down and back. I just jogged alongside her to try and keep her confidence up.”
The girl’s performance shocked her mother, Wills, and others who have known her for many years.
“I was taught to do little acts of service with a lot of love,” Granados says. “I feel like I helped that day.”
Wabash men provided assistance throughout the academic year during the Special Olympics practices in Chadwick Court every Sunday. Each week, SAAC members determine which team will provide volunteers for that week. The volunteer numbers have been excellent every week.
“Three weeks into this year, we had close to 45 volunteers,” Wills says. “Even though some of the students aren’t required to be here when their sport isn’t volunteering, they still come back.”
This story by Hopkinson, which originally appeared on the Wabash Sports Web site, was selected one of the top three stories in March 2013 in Division III Sports by the NCAA.