Postgraduate Catie Campbell has been selected as one of two students to represent Massachusetts as a youth leader at the Special Olympics USA Games in Minnesota in late June.

Now in her first year of Algonquin’s Community Access Program (CAP), a postgraduate program for students with special needs that focuses on independent living skills, Campbell also participates in school activities like Best Buddies and Unified sports. After joining the Special Olympics in Marlborough as a volunteer and later becoming a Youth Activation Committee (YAC) member, she was selected for the Youth Leadership Experience at the Special Olympics USA Games.

The games, which take place every four years, will be hosted by the University of Minnesota from June 20-26 and include Unified games like soccer, gymnastics, golf and cornhole. The Massachusetts team will send 82 athletes and coaches, as well as three members of the Youth Leadership Experience (YLE): Campbell, her Unified partner from Dracut High School, Abby Stebbins, and their mentor, Meghan Bourbeau. Bourbeau, who also leads the YAC program, was one of two people who chose Campbell for the experience.

“Catie’s name was at the top of our list, because she has shown us that the idea of bringing opportunities to schools throughout Massachusetts is something that is important to her,” Bourbeau said. “…Inviting her along and having her come on this journey to learn more at the YLE was really not a hard decision for us.”

During the YLE, Campbell will engage in leadership development activities, learn how to manage Special Olympics events, develop a project on inclusive youth leadership to bring back to Algonquin and watch the Massachusetts athletes compete. Alongside Stebbins, Campbell will also help younger athletes develop gross motor skills like kicking, throwing and jumping.

“I’m excited to travel and do something without my mom and dad,” Campbell said. “I’m excited to hang out with Abby and stay on a college campus for a week. I’m excited for the opening ceremony and the concert, and Demi Lovato will be there!”

Campbell and Stebbins met through YAC, where they attended monthly meetings focused on expanding inclusion through Unified programs. The committee has helped organize youth leadership summits that brought together students across the state to discuss inclusive school communities. Earlier this year, they also visited the State House, where they met with legislators to advocate for the removal of outdated terminology regarding people with disabilities from state laws.

Before becoming involved in statewide leadership efforts, Campbell first joined Unified sports at Algonquin after moving to Massachusetts halfway through her freshman year.

“I struggled with not having the friends I had in Utah,” Campbell said. “Some of my teachers said I should join Unified track, and I did, and I felt like I finally fit in at Algonquin. It is so much fun.”

From there, Campbell gained the confidence to begin participating in other activities, including volunteering at the Zeh and Finn elementary schools, becoming the Unified sports captain, competing on a traveling all abilities cheer team and eventually applying for YAC. Campbell’s personable character and passion for making a difference in Unified communities led Bourbeau to select her.

“[Campbell] walked into the room with 95 other adults and students, not knowing anybody except me and Abby, and she instantly was able to make friends, and walked away from [a Special Olympics event] with names of new athletes and phone numbers of people that she’s still communicating with,” Bourbeau said.

Campbell’s Unified sports coach, Stefani Giegucz, says her success is also rooted in her willingness to support others. She recalled Campbell’s empathy at a Unified track meet, where she was running the 400 meter race.

“[Campbell] was 10 steps away from the finish line, and another team member was halfway done with the lap and slowing down, and Catie noticed it and went backwards,” Giegucz said. “She finished the race with the team member that was struggling. Catie would have come in first place, but because she wasn’t thinking of just herself, but her other team members, and she came in last place.”

Although people often notice Campbell’s extroversion, CAP liaison Caitlin Hynes believes Campbell’s dedication to important causes is also admirable.

“Sometimes people just see the bubbly, social, wants to talk to everybody persona, and they think that that’s all she focuses on, but that’s not true at all,” Hynes said. “When something is important to her, or when she can understand why something is important to someone else, she really puts a lot of effort into helping them or working really hard and making sure that work is done to the best of her ability.”

Throughout her years in Unified sports and Special Olympics, Campbell has built her reputation for putting others first, which has helped her grow to be a local and statewide leader. For her family, watching that growth lead to a national leadership opportunity has been especially meaningful.

“When Catie was born, we were told she wouldn’t be able to do much, that she would be wheelchair bound, and wouldn’t have very much vision, so we wanted to give her as many experiences as she wanted to have,” Catie’s mother Andrea Campbell said. “…It makes me proud and happy and excited that she gets to experience something like this. The anxiety will kick in [for me] when she leaves in two weeks, but it’s a full gamut of emotions.”

Although Campbell’s path may be different from that of many other high school students, her family is incredibly proud of her accomplishments and the impact she is having on the world.

“All parents have a vision for their child: they’re born, you see them graduating high school, going off to college, getting their first job, and moving into apartments,” Andrea Campbell said. “Early on, we knew that was not going to be the case with Catie, and it was kind of a mourning period for us because all of these dreams that we had for her weren’t going to happen. But with her passions and wanting to try and do things, it’s been an absolutely amazing adventure to watch her grow and see and experiment and attempt to do things that we were once told she would never be able to do.”

When Campbell graduates from CAP, she wants to work a part time job, especially one in food services. Although she is still exploring pathways, Campbell also hopes to continue leading and connecting with others, making their days better.

“She’s just a bright light, with her enthusiasm for everything,” Giegucz said.