SWBOCES AIIM Student Wins ‘Miracle’: An Olympic Gold Medal

Students in the Project AIIM classes at Irvington High School are giving classmate Frank Ragusa the celebrity treatment he rightly deserves. Teachers and others in the program at IHS held a party recently to celebrate the 17-year-old’s success at the 2005 Special Olympics World Winter Games, which took place in Nagano, Japan.

Frank, who competed with the U.S. floor hockey team, returned to the United States March 7 with a few extra ounces in his luggage: an Olympic gold medal. The squad, made up of players from Westchester and Putnam counties, dominated in the medal round, beating Syria 12-1 before defeating the Isle of Man team 9-4 in the final. The games consisted of seven events, including floor hockey, alpine skiing, cross country skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, speed skating, and figure skating.

“This is an amazing, amazing accomplishment; we are so proud of you, Frank,” said Kathy Schneider-Ruiz, a Project AIIM (Applied Intensive Intervention Model) teacher at IHS. Sitting at the front of the classroom, Frank confidently answered questions from teachers and students curious to know more about the Japanese food, the team’s stay with local families in Nagano, and about the Games themselves. “It was certainly a wonderful experience, and one of the longest trips I’ve ever taken,” said Frank, who will be recognized by IHS Principal Scott Mosenthal at a special Irvington School Board presentation April 19.

He is a member of the North East Knights, a floor hockey team made up of local players with developmental disabilities ranging in age from 13 to 49. The Knights regularly play games in venues across the region and throughout the country. In fact, they recently returned from a game in Syracuse, where they played in the Special Olympics of New York 2005 competition. That success paved the way for their entry to the Games in Nagano.

While classmates were clearly enthralled with Frank’s description of his experience, his mother, Kim Desharnais, stood quietly in the background, beaming with pride. “I’m ecstatic,” said Ms. Desharnais, who added that her only child might be getting a “swelled head” with all the recent attention. The team’s win in Japan has received widespread coverage locally, with news articles and segments on News Channel 12 and NBC’s The Today Show, and the New York Times is scheduled to interview the team later this month.

Frank’s journey from a little boy, who was constantly teased in elementary school because he did not fit in socially, to the confident young man he is today is extraordinary, said his mother. At age 10, he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Asperger’s syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism that may be hereditary. Soon after, Ms. Desharnais enrolled him in the BOCES program, which provides a highly structured, therapeutic approach to learning. In addition, AIIM classes are small and individual attention is fundamental to the student’s growth, both academically and socially.

To the casual observer, Frank looks like any teen-ager. Outgoing, handsome and charming, he is at ease with others, even those he meets for the first time. But Frank can lose focus, become fidgety, hyperactive and agitated, said his mother, who notes that Project AIIM has been a “fantastic outlet” for her son.

Each morning, Frank travels to the SWBOCES Center for Career Services campus in Valhalla, where he has taken a variety of vocational courses, including office skills, carpentry and culinary arts. In the afternoons, he returns to IHS to fulfill the academic requirements needed for a Regents diploma, which he hopes to earn in two years.

Ms. Desharnais said the exposure to the program’s career training component has been worthwhile for her son, who is interested in becoming a chef. “He’s a hands-on kind of kid,” said his mother, “and honestly, I just can’t see him sitting at a desk all day.” Last year, he worked part-time at Macy’s as part of the SWBOCES Distributive Education Program, and loved it, said Ms. Desharnais.

Frank’s success in floor hockey has also been noteworthy. His introduction to the sport happened when his mother signed him up for summer camp at North East Westchester Special Recreation Inc., which provides recreational programs for disabled children and adults. At first, he participated in a number of different sports, but seemed to excel in floor hockey, and that is where he found his passion. “It also gave him something to do during the summer, and over the past few years he has really come out of his shell,” said his mother.

Frank became so good at floor hockey that more than a year ago, his coach recommended he join the adult league. Before the Games, Frank was practicing at least two to three times a week at various locations in Mount Kisco. He currently plays on the adult squad’s front line and in defense.

Frank said that being involved in Special Olympics was a valuable learning experience. To adequately prepare athletes for the Games and to acquaint them with the host country and its culture, Special Olympics New York arranged for the team to train at Cooper Mountain Resort in Colorado. While there, they also learned about Japanese culture, experimented with chopsticks and sampled Japanese cuisine.

A few weeks later, the Advisory Board of Special Olympics World Winter Games and Mitsui USA held a cultural orientation for the Olympians and their families at The Nippon Club in Manhattan.

The flight to Japan was equally exciting, said Frank, with a stop-over in California, where the team met with ice skater Scott Hamilton, former Olympic gold medalist. A couple of days after arriving in Japan, former President Bill Clinton made a surprise visit to the Games and posed with the floor hockey team. Visitors to the Special Olympics New York web site will see a picture of the President and the team.

Frank called the competition a “wonderful experience” and a lesson in positive thinking. “It was a challenge at first,” he said, “because the other teams were very tough and quick, but even though we lost the first few practice games, I knew in my heart that we could bounce back. I guess you could call it a miracle.”