Special Olympics has grown from just a handful of events and athletes in 1968 to 28 sports serving more than 2 million athletes in 150 countries today. Cortese, who served as the grand marshal of the New York delegation to the 2006 Special Olympics USA National Games this summer, introduced Special Olympian Denise Carriere, who told her own story of athletic and personal success. Carriere, who was struck with meningitis when she was just 5 days old, described her first experience going to a Special Olympics competition in a class trip led by two teachers. She has subsequently competed and earned medals in track and field, soccer, volleyball and swimming, and she has been nominated for the competition’s Hall of Fame.

“I am a survivor,” she told delegates, and the Special Olympics program has helped her to “live, to grow, to have fun and have pride.”

Cortese urged educators to support the program in several ways, including volunteering for the Special Olympics and to use the Special Olympics’ “SO Get Into It” K-16 curriculum. To download the SO Get Into It curriculum and other materials (click on “Initiatives” and then “Schools & Youth”), to serve as a volunteer or to make a donation, go to www.specialolympics.org.