On Thursday, April 20th, the HM Middle Division hosted an assembly with 21-time World Cup medalist Nicole Roundy. In her introduction of Roundy, Caitlin Hickerson, MD History Teacher, Service Learning Coordinator and Student Activities Coordinator, talked about the history of the Paralympics, noting that she learned it was ‘Para’ for ‘parallel’ not ‘paralyzed’ with the two events – Olympics and Paralympics - running side by side. “Though they do not intersect, neither is of lesser value or substance than the other. Each set of Olympians a master of their sport.” Hickerson also shared that “in 2006 [Roundy] became the first above-knee amputee, male or female, to compete in adaptive snowboarding” and “is consistently ranked as one of the best adaptive snowboarders in the world.”
Roundy spoke to the sixth, seventh and eighth graders in Gross Theatre, focusing her comments on the Middle Division’s 2016-17 highlighted Core Value, mutual respect. She asked the students to share what they thought mutual respect meant, and then shared her story. Diagnosed with bone cancer at age eight, Roundy said her mother empowered her when she told the then-eight year old that she couldn’t make the difficult decision about amputation for her, but that Roundy needed to decide. She talked about her decision, and how that decision changed her life in ways she could not have imagined. In discussing her path to becoming a Paralympian snowboarder, she explained to the students that it simply was not possible when she started, as the prosthetic technology wasn’t there yet. She highlighted the advances that made it possible, focusing on the respect that she and the prosthesis designers had for each other; they respected her passion and her dream, and she respected their talent and their designs. “That, to me, is mutual respect,” Roundy explained, and asked the students to think about the people in their lives. “Do they make you stronger?” She added that it isn’t the prosthetics that make her a great athlete, but “my persistence and my relationship with others.”
Roundy shared how much she respects her competitors, such strong and accomplished women, and said she feels privileged to travel the world with them. “My story is powerful, …but it is just as important as your story,” she told the students, adding that their stories are only just beginning, with so much left to write. “Embracing others – our differences and talents – is what opens doors for everyone, not just for me or for you.” She ended her remarks by telling the middle schoolers she never stopped believing that through persistence and respect she could “have a positive or lasting impact on the world” and urged the students to respect themselves, their dreams, and those around them.
Roundy responded to questions at the end of the assembly. One of the students asked who her role models had been. Roundy responded that she never felt she put any one on a pedestal, but highlighted her mother who taught her about love, and her good friends who taught her she could do anything. Then she grinned at the audience and said “…and Tom Cruise.” When another student asked her to reflect on the experience of having cancer, Roundy said that while she did not choose that path, if living through that experience was what it took to get her to the place she is in her life today, she probably would not change a thing.
To learn more about Nicole Roundy, or watch her recent TEDx talk on The Science of Snowboarding, visit her website at www.nicoleroundy.com.