Deaf and blind runners among more than 1,100 girls at Sunday's Girls on the Run race
Two years ago, Mary Elizabeth Nnachetam was living in silence with her family in Nigeria.
Mary Elizabeth was born deaf, and in a country where deaf people are often marginalized and some signed languages aren't as developed, she wasn't getting the education she needed, said Patricia Nnachetam, her mother.
So the family packed up and moved to the United States "so she could learn and have a future," Patricia said. "She has a right to belong, a right to participate."
Patricia saw those desires play out Sunday morning as her daughter crossed the finish line during Girls on the Run Central Ohio's spring 5K race. More than 1,100 girls ages 8 to 13, along with 400 coaches and 750 community members, raced around Downtown to culminate the organization's spring programming.
Girls on the Run combines social and emotional learning with physical activity, with the goal of making physical movement available to all girls, said the organization's Executive Director Sarah Hider.
Sunday's race was Girls on the Run Central Ohio's largest since 2019 and a celebration of serving 20,000 girls since 2008, Hider said. More than 70 teams participated from schools, community centers and churches across Franklin, Delaware, Knox, Union and Fairfield counties.
One of those teams combines students from the Ohio School for the Deaf and the Ohio State School for the Blind, which share a campus in Clintonville. The schools have had a team since 2015.
Seven girls between the two schools gathered after school over 10 weeks to go over lessons in self-confidence, community and mental health, capped by stretches and a short training run.
Reva McHardy, a youth leader at Ohio School for the Deaf, has led the teams for eight seasons. McHardy got involved with the school because her mother, who is deaf, attended the school in her youth.
"There are not a lot of social spaces where these girls can go with peers that sign," McHardy said. "I want the girls to feel like they are able to do what any other school is able to do."
McHardy said it's important that the girls have access to the program for their mental and physical health. The organization is working to get course materials translated into braille and has been very open to having girls run with interpreters, she said.
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Four girls made it out for Sunday's race: Mary Elizabeth, Arrayah Fritz, Marquita Wickman and LaRiah Knight, who also played the role of junior coach for the Ohio State School for the Blind.
Girls walked and ran in pairs with a volunteer or interpreters from the school.
"We're working as one big unit... Everyone's goal is to get to the finish line," McHardy said.
The girls have conversations on the course just like the other participants, McHardy said, but since they're signing, it can take a little more effort to multitask. That visibility, McHardy said, is just as important for hearing and sighted folks as it is for deaf and blind participants.
"I hope that people will start being more cognizant of deaf and blind individuals," she said. "You're out there running on your own, and that person out there in the park with you, they might be doing the same thing and they might be deaf or they could be a person that is blind."
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McHardy said it's inspiring seeing her girls on the course. She crossed the finish line with Mary Elizabeth, smiling together as they received their medals.
"I've never seen her this confident or proud," McHardy said of Mary Elizabeth.
Mary Elizabeth, through an ASL interpreter, agreed.
"Girls on the Run gives me a lot of confidence," she said. "It made me feel great running with my friends."
Her mother said she hopes to visit Nigeria again someday with Mary Elizabeth to show people the future her daughter built for herself and her newfound confidence.
"I want them to see," Patricia said, "that being deaf cannot limit someone."
Sheridan Hendrix is a higher education reporter for The Columbus Dispatch. Sign up for Extra Credit, her education newsletter, here.
@sheridan120
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Girls on the Run draws hundreds to Downtown on Sunday
