For more than two decades, Susan St. John has been a fixture of the Special Olympics Oklahoma community, ever since her daughter, Chelsea, first became an athlete while in middle school. The St. John family may have started out small with Special Olympics, but the organization quickly became a huge part of their lives.
During the first year of Chelsea’s involvement, St. John was the classic supportive mom at practice and during competitions but that quickly grew into having responsibilities. Volunteering as an assistant coach for one year turned into being asked to take over the coaching duties for the district. Without any hesitation, she said yes.
“That's all grade levels and I was asked if I would take over that,” she says. “At that time my intention was that I would do it while until she [Chelsea] graduated. She's now 34 years old, has long since graduated and I'm still here coaching. So, I just fell in love.”
St. John has since coached 12 sports for Special Olympics Oklahoma, including Unified bocce at the 2018 Special Olympics USA Games and bowling at the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games.
“My first USA Games, which was in Seattle, I was very fortunate not only did I get selected as a coach, but my daughter was selected as an athlete and my other daughter went as a Unified partner. Walking to Opening Ceremony with both of my daughters and being able to share that was just an incredible experience,” she says, talking about the opportunity to represent her state. “It became a running joke that my older daughter or my younger daughter was always saying, ‘oh look, Mom's crying again’”.
From the plains of Oklahoma to the Pacific Northwest and back to the beaches of Florida, Susan’s impact goes far beyond anything she ever dreamed of. The growth in her local school district has been noticeable, including growth in the district’s involvement in Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools® programming. Across seven schools, there are over 110 Special Olympics athletes and over 200 Unified partners engaged in area sports competitions, state-wide events, Youth Leadership Summits, and virtual activities.
“We emphasize the relationships,” she says. “Yes, we're about sports and teaching athletics and all of that, but it's about building those relationships and building inclusion.”
It can be seen in the hallways of the schools. Students, with and without intellectual disabilities, sitting together in the lunchroom; inclusion is organically part of each school day and its activities.
“Susan St. John is one of a kind. She is a ‘Yes’ woman—she sees a need and fills that need,” Brittany Dionne, sports and training manager for Special Olympics Oklahoma, says. “Every person on staff and in the SOOK [Special Olympics Oklahoma] community knows they can call Susan and if she is able, she will help with everything she's got. If not she will find a person to help. That’s from running trainings, running competitions, finding volunteers, bringing athletes or Unified partners to fundraising events, transportation, advice or to just listen. She will help with anything if you ask.”
And although St. John has never received any specific awards for her dedication, “she has been influential in her programs reaching excellence and standards—being awarded at a school-level,” it reads in the nomination form submitted to Special Olympics North America by Program staff.
Although, that no longer stands true now that she’s won the Special Olympics North America Lifetime Achievement Award. The Annette K. Lynch Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes contributions over the whole of a career by a coach in Special Olympics, celebrating individuals who have made a significant contribution to Special Olympics through coaching over a minimum of 20 years.
St. John is certainly honored by the recognition, it’s her family that may be the most excited.
“I'm just so happy that other people see how amazing she is,” Vanessa Borders, St. John's daughter who works as a special education teacher, says. “It's a lot of work behind the scenes that people don't get to see that she's doing. She spends hours and hours and hours working on brackets for competition dates and making sure that everyone has a chance to compete.”
St. John feels honored to achieve such an accomplishment and she understands the work that went into it. But she knows it’s a community (and family) effort. What began with a single pamphlet and an opportunity for one St. John has become a full-family affair, turning into travel across the country, careers in special education and a true commitment to inclusion.
