Rachel Grace, who served as manager of the North Penn girls’ basketball team the past three years, capped a remarkable journey with her acceptance into the CILLS program at East Stroudsburg University. Grace’s story is sponsored by Univest Corporation (www.univest.net).
By Mary Jane Souder
Rachel Grace – eyes sparkling, the smile never leaving her face – eagerly answers every question thrown her way by reporter Lauren Johnson during a recent taping of a segment of Fox Live. Grace is clearly comfortable with the recent celebrity status that has come her way. Surrounded by family, classmates and friends, the beloved manager of the girls’ basketball team is reveling in the moment, and it’s impossible to miss the happiness and love that fill every inch of North Penn’s gymnasium during the taping. (http://www.fox29.com/news/114901655-story)
But that’s hardly unusual.
Happiness and love follow R.G. – as she is affectionately known to her friends - wherever she goes, and she has friends everywhere. So when the 20-year-old with Down syndrome was accepted into the Career and Independent Living and Learning Studies (CILLS) program at East Stroudsburg recently, her myriad of friends celebrated with her. And so did literally millions around the world who watched the video of Grace’s response when she read her letter of acceptance from ESU.
“I started crying when I saw it – it was tears of joy,” junior captain Sam Carangi said. “Just the joy in the video. It was pure happiness.”
“I started crying,” junior captain Jess Huber added. “I couldn’t have been more happy for her and her family. It was just a great moment.”
The video – taken by her mother to share with R.G.’s grandmother – made Grace an instant celebrity while her parents, Deb and Tom, could do little more than look on and marvel.
“People like a happy story – people are sick of bad stories, and that’s what I think is happening here,” said Deb.
And few stories are happier than Grace’s, whose journey with the Lady Knights began three years ago when Melanie Seeders, then a learning support teacher at North Penn, suggested that she might want to consider serving as manager of the girls’ basketball team. Grace became much more than a manager. She became a valued team member and friend.
On the morning of the Fox Live taping, Grace’s face lights up as her teammates begin arriving, and each is greeted with an enthusiastic hug.
As Carangi approaches, Grace said, “I love her. I always love my SC.”
“I love my RG,” Carangi said as she’s greeted by one of Grace’s patented hugs.
It’s a scene that is replayed again and again.
The taping goes without a hitch, and when it’s over, there’s an almost pensive realization that a remarkable chapter is coming to a close. There is also the knowledge that everyone is richer for having been a part of a story that reads a bit like a fairy tale.
“We’ve got this.”
Rachel Grace was born into a family that embraced her from the moment she took her first breath. Loved unconditionally, Rachel grew up with the unwavering belief that anything is possible.
“When your child is born with a disability, you’re kind of devastated,” said her mother, Deb Grace. “People tell you one day at a time. We went with one minute at a time.
“She’s where the answers are. You just look to her, and it’s always been that way with her. Certainly we never planned for this, but we did always tell her when she was little – you’ll go to college, you’ll get married, you’ll get a job, you’ll do all the things everybody else does. I think she believes it.”
While her parents have given Rachel wings and a wonderful sense of independence, both Tom and Deb credit North Penn School District for playing a significant role in Rachel’s journey.
“When she was in kindergarten, the bus came the first day of school and picked Rachel up, and I followed the bus – I’m a little over protective,” Tom said. “They told me the bus would drop the kindergarteners off at the kindergarten gate and let all the other kids off with the masses, so I followed the bus, and it doesn’t let the kindergarteners off.
“I sprint across the parking lot because my daughter is in this mass of people. She, of course, was fine. Toby Sterling is the guidance counselor, and she said, ‘Mr. Grace, relax, go home – we’ve got this,’ and for 14-15 years, they’ve had it. I can’t say enough good things about North Penn.”
“The whole district,” Deb said. “It’s not just the high school. It’s Montgomery Elementary, it’s Pennbrook Middle School, and it’s the high school.
“It’s all about trust. I really do believe it’s about trusting these people. We trusted them with her, and they did all of this. They really did.”
The cherry on top, according to Tom, has been Grace’s involvement with the basketball team.
“It takes a village, it just does,” he said. “It takes a whole village. These little things that happen - if you just trust them, let these teachers go, they are amazing.”
A Match Made in Heaven
Rachel Grace has a way of sticking in people’s memories, and Melanie Seeders, who taught Grace in 12th grade social studies, recalled seeing the then senior when she officiated middle school basketball games.
“When she came to high school, she was involved in cheerleading, but the group she was involved in kind of broke up or disbanded, so I knew how much she loved being involved in something,” Seeders said. “She had a true understanding of sports as well as the competitiveness and the commitment part.”
When Deb and Tom Grace visited her classroom on back-to-school night the fall of 2013, Seeders broached the subject.
“We were talking, and I said, ‘We need a manager for the girls team. How would Rachel feel about it?’” Seeders recalled. “They jumped on it. They thought she would be great at it.”
Seeders discussed the idea with coach Maggie deMarteleire.
“Maggie was gung ho from the get-go,” Seeders said. “She was on board 100 percent.
“Rachel was so grateful for this position. She knows everybody and everybody knows her. It was just terrific. I loved watching her because besides her rapport with the players and coaches – she watches the game from beginning to end.
“There was one situation where the ball was wedged on the backboard, and she knew immediately to get up and get another ball to hit it out. Nobody had to ask. She knew immediately what to do. I’m just so happy for her.”
Grace joined the Lady Knights’ basketball team for the 2013-14 season. The squad – led by seniors Vicky Tumasz, Erin Maher and Bri Cullen – went on to capture the District One AAAA title.
“Rachel went to school with Vicky Tumasz at Montgomery Elementary,” Deb said. “These kids have known her forever.
“I was talking to Tom about it, and I said, ‘How did we even get here?’ At the end of the day, I think it’s recreational sports. We signed her up for soccer when she was four years old. That’s how everybody knows her. That’s the connection.”
Grace also played softball, volleyball and, of course, basketball.
“Hoops has always been her big thing,” said Tom. “She was a good enough athlete that she could play township ball.”
Special Olympics entered the picture when Grace entered her teens, and she excelled. Her team captured a gold medal at Penn State last summer. That, however, is only a footnote to her story.
Rachel in Charge
Grace was meticulous in her duties as manager.
“I do the water,” she said. “I have paper cups, and it has to be 10. Every single time – 10 cups.
“If they sub in or sub out, I get the water. They come to me and I hand it to them, or if they’re sitting down, I’ll walk up to them and give it to them on the bench.”
Grace knew each player’s preferences.
“Every time I’d get a sub or during timeouts, she’d run over to me with two waters and is like, ‘Here’s two for my MG,’ and it was something I could always count on,” senior Mikaela Giuliani said. “If I ask her for another, she’ll say, ‘I know you’re thirsty, MG,’ and she’ll run over and get more.”
Making sure the players were hydrated was just one small piece of what Grace brought to the team.
“She would come into the locker room for our pre-game and post-game talks,” coach Maggie deMarteleire said. “She usually had a couple of words of wisdom.
“We used to joke around with her because she always used to say, ‘You’re like my family, and the coaches are like my moms.’ She kept saying the same thing, so we were like, ‘You’ve got to get some new material,’ and she did. She just fit in with the team.”
Grace could be counted on to be waiting for the players when they returned from their Wawa runs after school.
“When we come back, she’ll jump out to scare us,” Huber said. “Even in the snow, she waits for us outside.”
“You know what the best thing is – she bring us food too, so there’s candy on the bus,” junior captain Irisa Ye said. “My favorites are the gummi bears. She always has gummi bears, and I always have to get them first.”
“She would always have Swedish fish and gummi bears,” Giuliani said. “After the games, she would give it to us. Just all the little things.”
Rachel Rocks
Basketball is not Grace’s only passion. Her love of music rivals her love of basketball.
“I had a thing for music when I was a little kid,” she said. “I really wanted to study sound engineering for music because I’ve been doing music since I was two years old. I want to be involved in music.”
Grace has a guitar, she has drums (she says she’d like to take drum lessons), and she has her own mixing board. She has taken guitar lessons since she was 12.
“We kind of set up a music room in the basement for her to do her thing,” Tom said.
Grace’s uncle, Rob Dunleavy, is a member of the Irish band Black Thorn, and on several occasions, Rachel has joined them on stage.
“She always loved music, and we are not very musical, so we looked to family and friends to help us out with that,” Deb said.
East Stroudsburg might also play a role since – as a student enrolled in CILLS –auditing music classes will be an option for Grace, who was in her element when the music was turned on in the locker room or on the bus rides home from games.
“If we have dance battles in the locker room, she’d always be the one in the middle showing off her dance moves,” Giuliani said. “On the way to games, we’re quiet, and Rachel sits in the front, but on the way home, she always has her music blasting and would stand up and face us, singing and dancing.”
East Stroudsburg Bound
A 2014 graduate of North Penn, Grace has spent the last two years as part of the school’s post-12 program, which allows students to be part of work-study. Enrolling at East Strudsburg feels like a natural progression.
“It’s really about furthering education,” Deb Grace said. “She’ll take some special education designed courses just to keep her moving forward and improving in math and reading and comprehension.
“She can audit regular college classes as part of the program, so if she has an interest like music, she can go to a music class if she wants, but it really is very structured. She’ll also work while she’s up there, so she’ll work part time and be in classes part time.”
East Stroudsburg felt like a perfect fit to Grace.
“I liked it a lot,” she said. “There are a lot of cool things up there.”
Temple and Arcadia, also considerations, have day programs, but ESU offered an opportunity for Grace to have a more complete college experience.
“It’s like every other kid,” Deb said. “You want to further your skills, so you have an opportunity to get a better job in life.
“When special needs kids leave here, this is it for them usually, so unless they have a program to further those skills, job prospects are tough, just like it is for everybody.
“We looked at a lot of programs. When Rachel was born, there were very few in the country 20 years ago. Now there are over 200 programs. We have four programs within an hour of our house.”
Rachel will live in off-campus housing with other students in the program with a resident assistant, who is a special education major.
“That’s so I can sleep at night knowing there’s a level of monitoring or control,” Deb said.
As for that moment when she read her letter of acceptance – viewed by more than 12 million thanks to her mother’s video, Grace remembers it well.
“It felt amazing – it’s just awesome how I feel about it,” she said. “I was on Fox and Friends. (The video) went viral. People are playing it in London, in Australia.”
While the family is comfortable with Rachel’s choice, there are the typical concerns about letting go.
“I’ve enrolled in East Stroudsburg,” Tom said with a laugh.
“We’re buying a house there,” Deb added. “Collin will have to finish high school in East Stroudsburg, but other than that, we’re good with it.”
There's no mistaking the separation will require an adjustment, but Grace's parents believe ESU is the perfect setting for Rachel to test her wings.
“It had the right level of independence for Rachel, but the right amount of control,” Tom said.
“It felt like (North Penn),” Deb added. “It felt like community. It really did.
“They told us last year’s homecoming queen was a CILLS student. I said, ‘Okay, she’s coming here’ because they get it. It’s about inclusion, it’s about community, and it’s about diversity. It felt just like North Penn, and it could be a nice smooth transition.”
For North Penn guidance counselor Trish Pike, whose daughter Tori worked with Grace during her first year as manager, Grace's acceptance at ESU was a proud moment.
"I am a proud alumni of ESU, and I think it's great that they offer this program," Pike said. "Rachel is a great kid with a big heart.
"My daughter had the privilege of working with her as basketball manager. Rachel is an inspiration to so many of us, and she has definitely inspired my daughter Tori!"
A Good Role Model
Grace possesses a remarkable sense of self, and that didn’t happen by accident.
“My mom says I’m a good role model for people with disabilities,” she said.
In truth, Grace is a good role model for everyone.
“All the energy she brings – it helps us on and off the court,” Carangi said. “If we’re having a bad day and we see her, she always brings us up. We’re just always happy to see her.
“After the games in the locker room, she would always try to cheer us up. After our CB South loss (in a district quarterfinal) when we were all upset, she was in there crying with us. She’s part of the team.”
The players say they’ve learned valuable life lessons from Grace.
“I’ve just learned to always have a positive attitude, and even if I’m having a bad day to just try not to think about it and just keep going and have a good day,” Huber said.
“The words positive energy can’t be used enough to describe her,” deMarteleire added. “She just gives 100 percent, and she is all in. The last three years have been a fun ride.”
When asked what the team has learned from Rachel, deMarteleire had an immediate response.
“Set your goals high,” the Lady Knights’ coach said. “She’s a perfect example. She’s not afraid to do anything, and she’ll surprise people.”
Friends Forever
The relationship Grace developed with the coaches and players is a two-way street. Mikaela Giuliani missed the taping of Fox Live since she was in Florida on her senior class trip.
“I felt horrible,” the senior captain said. “I was really upset.
“My mom videotaped it on her phone while it was on the Fox news and sent it to me, so I’m sitting in Magic Kingdom watching it on my phone. She’s honestly just meant so much to our team as a whole and to me personally. She was always there with her big smile, she was always there to make us laugh.
“It’s just been a great experience. I’ve been truly blessed to have met her and her family. I’ve become close with her parents as well. They’re so appreciative of everything we’ve done for her, but honestly, we have to be appreciative that she’s there for us.”
Grace is always there and is more than happy to add her special brand of joy to every single day.
“She could be down and sad, but she chooses to be happy and positive,” Ye said. “She says ‘hi’ to everyone every single day.
“If she knows you and sees you in the hallway, she comes up to you and hugs you or gives you a handshake. It’s just great. It brings up your day.”
It’s safe to say no one felt worse when the Lady Knights’ basketball team saw its season come to an end in a state semifinal loss to Cardinal O’Hara.
“That was really hard for all of us,” Grace said. “As soon as I came up the stairs, I was crying, but I have a whole group of friends, and they just huddled around, hugging me, making sure I was okay.
“All of them are like one giant family of mine. They made a huge impact on my whole life. I love my friends. They mean a lot.”
Things won’t be the same without Grace next year. Her irrepressible joy, positive spirit and easy laughter will be impossible to replace.
“We’re really going to miss her,” Carangi said. “It’s going to be a lot different.
“(We) love her as much as she says she loves us.”
“To the moon and back,” Huber added.
That’s a whole lot of love, but when Grace is in the room, there’s plenty to go around.
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