Youth of the Year:
Meredith McCrorey
Eastside senior forms county’s first special needs livestock show By MASON WITTNER mwittner@covnews.com
Inclusivity is an issue that has been near and dear to Meredith McCrorey for as long as she can remember. When Meredith was younger, the McCroreys were close friends with a set of parents whose daughter had Down syndrome. She recalls receiving odd looks and stares when the families would go out together, and she understood from a young age that it was unfair for someone to be treated differently simply because of a disability. Through that experience, she says, she developed a passion for helping others feel welcomed regardless of circumstance. “I’ve always tried to include everyone that I can,” said McCrorey, a senior at Eastside High School and FFA member through the Newton College and Career Academy, “because nobody’s disability is greater than their ability.” McCrorey’s selfless desire to help others sparked a novel idea during her first year of high school. In her freshman floral design class, she develTHE COVINGTON NEWS
oped a friendship with her classmate Gabby, a special education student enrolled through the school’s mainstreaming program. At the time, McCrorey and several of her classmates showed livestock — she’d personally shown a pig at a recent event — and commonly discussed it amongst one another. One day the topic piqued Gabby’s interest, leading to pleads for her involvement. “Gabby just lit up and was like, ‘I want to show a pig! I want to show a pig!’ We kind of brushed it off, but it became an everyday thing,” McCrorey recalls. “I realized this wasn’t just something she was repeating. She actually wanted to do this.” McCrorey helped enroll Gabby in a livestock show and served as her buddy as the two showed a pig together. Gabby’s lips spent hours curled in an obdurate smile that refused to be wiped away. She was thrilled with the experience, ceaselessly expressing her gratitude. Afterward, McCrorey set out looking for similar events the two could do together, but was saddened to find her request unfulfilled. “I tried to look at some other things Gabby could VISIONS 59
