Amie Stanton now knows what it feels like to attract the kind of sustained, infectious applause that such athletes as Michael Jordan or Walter Payton received.
The Warren Township High School senior’s classmates’ cheers wishing her luck in the coming Paralympics followed the teenager as she wheeled her way through the Almond Campus in Gurnee on Thursday.
Stanton, who suffered a spinal injury in a car accident when she was 2 years old, will participate in four races and two relay events in the competitions in Sydney, Australia, from Oct. 18 to 29.
“Not only is she an outstanding athlete, but she’s an all-around person,” said District 121 spokeswoman Reva Kaplan.
The send-off, during which students lined the hallways and cheered Stanton, was held to honor the hard-working teenager, who squeezes time between her homework and rigorous training to tutor recent Polish immigrant and fellow Warren Township High School student Agnieszka Kasperek.
“Amie was placed in a wheelchair because of an accident,” her father, Matthew Stanton, said. “But it’s no accident that she’s succeeding.”
Amie Stanton has received numerous medals from previous international competitions. This will be her first Paralympics.
