LATRELLE CAWTHON Views work with Special Olympics as her ministry

By Phillip B. Hubbard phubbard@covnews.com

Since her days as a Newton High School student, LaTrelle Cawthon has been involved with the Special Olympics in one capacity or another.

While a Ram, Cawthon volunteered then. When she returned home from college to become a teacher, she was a member of the management team.

Now, Cawthon serves as the Spe - cial Olympics’ coordinator, a position she’s held for 15 years.

It took her a while to realize it, but Cawthon came to a conclusion as to why she’s always been drawn to assisting with such an event.

“I know this is my ministry and this is where God placed me,” Cawthon said. “I realized this was his path.”

Cawthon is a sixth generation member of her family from Covington. She was born and raised in

Newton County and, for the past 25 years, has taught in the Newton County School System.

After graduating from Newton High, Cawthon went to the University of North Georgia. There, she became certified to teach physical education, special education and early childhood education. On top of that, Cawthon earned a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education coupled with a master’s in kinesiology.

The path back home started for Cawthon before she officially wrapped up her master’s degree.

A position had opened up at West Newton Elementary to be a PE teacher. Cawthon got the position without even having to go in for an interview.

“He had called my mama first and my mama was like, ‘Yeah, she’ll take it.’ I hadn’t even finished graduate school,” Cawthon said. “They told me that on a Wednesday, I turned in a paper on Thursday, I came home for new teacher orientation on Friday, I moved home on Saturday and started pre-planning on Monday. I was like, “OK, I guess I’m going to work.”

Following her stint at West Newton, Cawthon transferred over to teach at Indian Creek Middle School. During that time, Cawthon took time off for the birth of her sons after which she started teaching special education.

Cawthon said she “fell in love” at that point.

A meeting with then-Indian Creek principal Samantha Fuhrey reset Cawthon’s course once again.

“I did self contain at Indian Creek for four to five years,” Cawthon said. “Samantha Fuhrey was actually my principal at Indian Creek and she was like, ‘I think that you’ll do a fabulous job,’ and she moved me into self contain. And that was all she wrote.

“Ever since I had a self contain class, my class came to the Special Olympics. It was like my worlds came together.”

Cawthon, along with her management team and committee, does planning for the Special Olympics year round. Around January of each year, though, is when the organization starts coming together and, in the three weeks leading up to the event, Cawthon said it’s “constant” planning.

When asked what makes all of the efforts worth it, Cawthon couldn’t seem to pinpoint one specific reason. A plethora of things came to mind. But, one thing she was sure of: nothing beats seeing the kids enjoy all of the activities throughout the Special Olympics.

“Seeing the athletes accomplish things that they think they can’t do and then they succeed and do it,” Cawthon said, “that joy is a joy that is unexplainable.”

Watching each student’s reaction is one of the things Cawthon says is why she continues to come back year after year.

In fact, witnessing the students’ enjoyment is something Cawthon believes makes the kids she works with remarkable.

“They don’t see all the negativeness that the rest of the world does. They’re so pure and they just love you,” Cawthon said. “They’re appreciative, they’re humble and they’re kind.”

And, at the end of each event, Cawthon emphasized how grateful she feels that her journey led her back to her hometown to keep influencing kids in a positive way.

“I realized this was his path. Because it was weird that I came back,” Cawthon said. “God just paved that path. That’s where he needed me and that’s where he put me.”