{"id":89220,"date":"2019-04-12T14:39:52","date_gmt":"2019-04-12T18:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/?p=89220"},"modified":"2019-04-12T15:21:09","modified_gmt":"2019-04-12T19:21:09","slug":"umw-celebrates-special-olympian-amazing-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2019\/04\/12\/umw-celebrates-special-olympian-amazing-grace\/","title":{"rendered":"UMW Celebrates Special Olympian ‘Amazing Grace’"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Positive.” That’s how UMW sophomore Maddie Shifflett summed up her on-campus hero yesterday at the University Center. Her response to NBC 4 reporter Dave Culver’s request to describe longtime Mary Washington dining associate Grace Anne Braxton in one word made it to the 6 p.m. news<\/a>.<\/p>

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Grace Anne Braxton holds her silver media close. Photos by Suzanne Rossi.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

“Just like a ray of sunshine and happiness,” Shifflett, starting guard on Mary Washington’s women’s basketball team, told Culver on camera. “She’s always there supporting us and cheering us on.”<\/p>

As a three-time Special Olympics World Games medalist, Braxton holds her awards dear. But the kindness and compassion, friends and family she’s found during her 20-plus-year career at Mary Washington mean even more, she said during the surprise celebration to recognize her most recent win – last month’s silver medal in golf in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>

“Everybody who works here loves her,” said UMW President Troy Paino, who got to know Braxton not at Qdoba, where she works the lunch counter, but on a local golf course. “We all know who Grace is. ‘Amazing Grace’ is what we call her.”<\/p>

Surrounded by students, faculty, staff – and a barrage of media, from The Free Lance-Star <\/em>to Washington, D.C., television news networks – Braxton handled the hoopla like a champ, smiling as she sauntered through the University Center doors to face her fans on Ball Circle. Planned by Campus Dining Marketing Manager Rose Benedict, the party included colorful balloons, a big cake that read: “Amazing Grace, Congratulations ‘G!’ We Love You!” … and Braxton’s parents, Gail and Harrison Braxton.<\/p>

“It meant the whole world to me,” she told reporters. “It made me feel really happy and excited, and I didn’t even know a clue about it.”<\/p>

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Braxton shares a hug from one of her fans in front of the University Center. Photos by Suzanne Rossi. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
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Braxton’s supervisor Lakiesha Childs cheers Grace Anne Braxton along with President Paino and an onslaught of campus well-wishers. <\/div> <\/div>
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Well-wishers donned ‘Amazing Grace’ buttons to show their affection for the four-time Special Olympian. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
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Grace Anne poses with her parents, Harrison and Gail Braxton. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
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Braxton poses for photos with excited well-wishers. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
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Special Olympian Grace Anne Braxton and UMW President Troy Paino point to Braxton’s parents who attended a reception in her honor at the University Center. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>

Explaining her “small intellectual disability,” she said: “It doesn’t bother me … it might take me a little longer to get things done, but as long as I get them done, I don’t feel bad about it because that’s who I am.”<\/p>

Her boss of 16 years, Lakiesha Childs, who jumped through hoops to keep Braxton from learning about the surprise, said she feels the same way. “[Grace] doesn’t feel different here,” said Childs, who struggled to hold back tears while talking to Culver. “We’re family here, and we love her.”<\/p>

A 9.2 handicap and Special Olympian for decades, Braxton was the world’s top-rated female Special Olympics golfer in 2007 and 2011. She’s competed at World Games in Greece, China and Minnesota and took the gold in last year’s USA Games in Seattle.<\/p>

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WJLA newscaster Jay Korff interviews Special Olympian Grace Anne Braxton for the station’s 11 p.m. broadcast. Photos by Suzanne Rossi.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

She keeps her most recent medallion close so she doesn’t lose it, she told UMW senior and men’s basketball team forward John Cronin, one of the many student-athletes who showed up yesterday to recognize her win. The two shared their special handshake while WJLA reporter Jay Korff’s cameras rolled.<\/p>

“Braxton says the way that she’s treated at Mary Washington, with kindness and respect, gives her the confidence to perform on the highest of athletic stages and return not to a job but to a home,” Korff said on last night’s 11 o’clock broadcast<\/a>.<\/p>

Braxton agrees.<\/p>

“They made me feel like I belong in this community,” she told Korff. “I love it here, and I won’t leave it for the world, because this is my home.”<\/p>

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Watch video from Special Olympian Grace Anne Braxton’s surprise celebration at UMW.<\/p>