KAYLA CORNELL HAS A MESSAGE FOR FELLOW SPECIAL OLYMPICS ATHLETES: LET'S GET HEALTHY TOGETHER

BY RJ NEALON

Kayla Cornell is the head chef in her cooking class for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Dressed in a blue Special Olympics shirt and surrounded by Special Olympics athletes, she gives instructions and demonstrates knife skills in the kitchen at the Mary Free Bed YMCA in Grand Rapids. Cornell's goal is simple: teach her students how to be healthier. The class is aptly named Let's Get Healthy Together.

The 33-year-old focuses on cooking healthy recipes and teaching specific skills during the seven-week program. Sharing her passion for eating well is important to Cornell because she once struggled with making healthy choices. This inspired her to endeavor to become a dietitian. Her hope is to work specifically with people with intellectual disabilities. Her message to others? That it is okay to struggle, but having a great support system in place makes all the difference.

Cornell was introduced to Special Olympics in the seventh grade when a teacher suggested she try downhill skiing. Uneasy at first with large competitions and sharing a room with a teammate while traveling, she tried to have an open mind. “My mom convinced me in high school that I needed to try it out again, so I drove an hour to ski practice and ended up loving down-

hill skiing,” Cornell says. “It wasn’t until 2014 that I broke out of my shell and played more sports and got more involved in Special Olympics.”

Soon Cornell added gymnastics, softball and other disciplines to her list of sports, and started to ingrain herself in the Special Olympics community. This helped her warm up to uncomfortable situations, and with the support of her coaches, family and therapist, she says she now gladly shares a room. “Special Olympics has forever changed my life,” she says. “It’s helped me grow into areas that I didn't know I could grow into.”

CUTTING EDGE: Kayla Cornell uses her talent in the kitchen and passion for healthy eating to encourage her fellow athletes to make healthy choices.