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Meredith McCrorey, Youth of the Year
Youth of the Year: Meredith McCrorey
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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 developed 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
participate in but I saw there weren’t any opportunities for those with disabilities to keep showing livestock,” she said. “So, I talked to my agriculture teachers and we took it upon ourselves to create one.”
McCrorey founded Unique Kids Showing Pigs, Newton County’s first special needs livestock show. She’s now helped put on two independent shows, with a third, which was scheduled to take place during this school year, postponed due to COVID-19.
The shows have created an avenue for disabled students to be involved in agriculture, a science she took an interest in at a young age after her older sister enrolled in FFA.
“Growing up, I always had the appreciation for agriculture, but not the understanding behind it,” McCrorey said. “Being able to go help my sister out helped me understand where the appreciation comes from. That was neat, and it got me into it.”
McCrorey’s love for agriculture isn’t going away anytime soon. She’s recently been accepted into the University of Georgia, and plans to continue studying the science at the collegiate level. She
The Ladies of the Community C.A.R.E.S. Foundations, Inc. Salutes Sherriff Ezell Brown and other Nominees on their Outstanding Service to the Newton County Citizens Rev. Darlene M. Smith President Dr. Sherell Vicks-Crawford Vice-President
Community C.A.R.E.S. Foundation is a 501(c) 3 foundation serving both Newton and Rockdale Counties since 2012 www.communitycaresfdn.org
Meredith McCrorey guides her friend Gabby, right, as a buddy during a livestock show McCrorey started years ago.
has an existing relationship with the director of a program at UGA called ESP — Extra Special People — and she’s already been in discussions about how she can bring a similar special needs livestock program to Athens.
But despite her time in high school nearing its end, she has no intention of taking her hands off the Unique Kids Showing Pigs events in Covington.
It is her hope that they will continue to proceed, and she will continue having a hand in their production, long after she’s moved away.
“I don’t want people to think that this was something for a school project. This isn’t something that once I graduate, it leaves also.” McCrorey said. “I want it to be a lasting impact that the kids have. Just because I leave doesn’t mean the students should have to miss out on the opportunity.”
As the 2021 Youth of the Year, McCrorey passed along words of advice for other high school students who are seeking to make a positive impact on the Newton County community.
“If there’s something you’re passionate about and you want to see a change, just be the change that you want to see,” she said. “There’s no better way for something to get done than if you do something about it.”
