Charles; Spirit of Sport winner Firestone hold alumnus interview

During this year's Summer Meeting Opening General Session, Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association (DIAA) Executive Director and 2012-13 NFHS President Kevin Charles conducted the inaugural “Alumnus Interview” with 2012 Spirit of Sport Award Section 2 recipient Grace Firestone.

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Grace Firestone	Kevin Charles

The “Alumnus Interview” brings back a former Spirit of Sport Award or Heart of the Arts Award recipient for a live, on-stage conversation with the executive director of that particular state association. Its goals are to inform the audience members of the accomplishments that initially earned the recipient the award, but perhaps more importantly, to update them regarding some of the things that individual has accomplished since that time. A video depicting those events is shown during the interview.

A standout multi-sport student-athlete at Wilmington (Delaware) Tower Hill School, Firestone’s life changed forever two days after her 2011 high school graduation when she collapsed on her mother’s bed and her heart stopped. In the ambulance en route to the hospital, Firestone had to be shocked six times to prevent her from having complete heart failure. Firestone now wears a defibrillator that will shock her heart back to a normal rhythm if her heart rate ever gets too fast.

In 2012, Firestone defied her challenging health issues by summiting 19,341-foot Mount Kilimanjaro along with a team of climbers to raise money for the children at the Flying Kites orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya. She is currently wrapping up her undergraduate degree in biology at the University of Delaware with an eye toward medical school.

The two aspire to convey to the audience Firestone’s story, which could be very accurately described as being “amazingly inspirational.”

“In the ‘Alumnus Interview,’ I hope to share my sense of gratitude for life and opportunities such as this,” Firestone began. “I wish to communicate the power in becoming involved in something greater than you and outside of your comfort zone. The things of which I am most proud have been the product of taking risks, principally after my Sudden Cardiac Arrest event in 2011.

“Summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro also carried with it tremendous personal triumph. After my Sudden Cardiac Arrest event, I was frustrated by prescribed physical restrictions, and the worry that persisted in family and friends when I did return to athletics. Consequently, reaching Uhuru Peak just 18 months after my collapse meant a personal defeat of the word ‘can’t.’”

“Grace is an inspiration and it goes beyond her story,” Charles said. “Even before her medical setback, Grace inspired by example. An honor student, an accomplished athlete, a humble servant - by any measure, Grace is a ‘treasure.’

“We all followed Grace’s recovery with bated breath. We all feared the worst, but prayed for the best. A year after the incident, I invited her back to the DIAA Student Leadership Conference as a keynote speaker to tell her story. The students in the audience listened in awe, total silence, jaws dropped … it was compelling.

“I hope the audience sees at least some of what I see in Grace. That she does serve as an inspiration. That she takes on life’s most difficult challenges and comes out stronger. I hope the audience will see that Grace truly does embody the “Spirit of Sport!”