{"id":11290,"date":"2024-08-30T08:55:39","date_gmt":"2024-08-30T13:55:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=11290"},"modified":"2024-08-30T08:55:39","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T13:55:39","slug":"warhawk-hannah-smith-earns-espn-humanitarian-award","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/warhawk-hannah-smith-earns-espn-humanitarian-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Warhawk Hannah Smith earns ESPN Humanitarian Award"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Hannah Smith, second from left, was recently recognized for her generosity in front of a national audience at a premium sports awards show.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hannah Smith, a\u00a0communication major<\/a>\u00a0at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, took the words of her mother to heart when she was recently recognized for her generosity in front of a national audience at a premium sports awards show.<\/p>\n

On July 11 in Los Angeles, Smith was honored as a winner of the\u00a0Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award<\/a>\u00a0at the 2024 ESPY Awards\u00a0for her efforts to create opportunities for athletes with disabilities in and around her hometown of Richmond, Virginia.<\/p>\n

\"Hannah<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom always told me \u2014 if you see a need and have the means, fill it,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThere was a need (for growth of accessible opportunities) on the East Coast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith was recognized on the ESPYs stage alongside two other award winners by women\u2019s tennis legend Serena Williams, who hosted the annual awards show.<\/p>\n

Pictured right: Hannah Smith, center, is recognized as a recipient of the Sports Humanitarian Award at the 2024 ESPY Awards. Smith is joined in the photo by fellow award winners Conor Campbell, left, and Ayanna Shah. (Submitted photo)<\/em><\/p>\n

When Smith learned she had won the award about a month before the ESPY Awards, she was \u201cshocked and grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attending several pre-show events in Los Angeles, Smith met sports celebrities and several champions of accessibility and inclusion in sports, including the person who started American sign language broadcasts for National Hockey League games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so excited to meet everyone at the red carpet at the ESPYs, but what was equally as meaningful was meeting my role models \u2014 other people with disabilities who have paved the way for me to even get an award at the ESPYs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Hannah
Hannah Smith, right, poses with a camper at a Sportable wheelchair basketball camp, one of the youth camps Smith helped start in Richmond, Virginia. (Submitted photo\/Brian McWalters)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Drawing on her own experience playing youth wheelchair basketball, Smith teamed with Sportable, a Richmond-based organization that creates sports and recreational opportunities for individuals with physical disabilities and visual impairments, to launch wheelchair basketball camps and clinics and an adult women\u2019s wheelchair basketball team. In 2023, she started the\u00a0\u201cSee It, Be It\u201d social media campaign<\/a>, which highlights individuals with disabilities succeeding in sports, careers, and everyday adventures to inspire youth with disabilities and those with new injuries or diagnoses to pursue their dreams.<\/p>\n

Smith became a part of Sportable when she was 11 and began competing in wheelchair basketball two years later. She remembers playing in her first national tournament at age 13 in Louisville, Kentucky, and feeling a sense of belonging.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a giant building (with) 12 basketball courts, and there were more people with disabilities or using mobility aids than people who weren\u2019t,\u201d she said. \u201cFor the first time in my life, for the entire week, no one asked me \u2018what\u2019s wrong with you?\u2019 or \u2018what\u2019s your disability?\u2019 or \u2018why are you in a wheelchair\u2019? They looked at me as competition, not as different. That meant a lot to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a high school student, Smith immersed herself in wheelchair basketball, playing and coaching with Sportable and speaking at local schools as a champion of inclusivity. During the pandemic, she trained in Richmond with Cor\u2019Rales Dupree, who played for the\u00a0men\u2019s wheelchair basketball team<\/a>\u00a0at UW-Whitewater and graduated with a degree in communication in 2021.<\/p>\n

Smith attended\u00a0wheelchair basketball camps<\/a>\u00a0at four different colleges, including UW-Whitewater. She was impressed by the hospitality and care shown by the coaching staff, which at the time included head women\u2019s coach Christina Schwab and head men\u2019s coach Jeremy \u201cOpie\u201d Lade, as well as the other camp coaches, including Warhawk alum Lindsay Zurbrugg, a member of the Team USA women\u2019s wheelchair basketball team playing for Schwab at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.<\/p>\n

Smith also noticed the way the community supported the wheelchair basketball programs \u2014 she saw a schedule poster posted at a local restaurant and knew Whitewater was a place where she would be valued.<\/p>\n

Since joining campus, Smith has been a member of UW-Whitewater\u2019s\u00a0Campus Crusade<\/a>\u00a0for Christ and Delight Ministries chapters. She was a member of the Warhawk\u00a0women\u2019s wheelchair basketball team<\/a>\u00a0from 2021-23, earning National Wheelchair Basketball Association All-Rookie Team accolades as a freshman and Academic All-America honors as a sophomore, and was a\u00a0peer mentor<\/a>\u00a0with the\u00a0First Year Experience<\/a>\u00a0office in fall 2023. She has also worked with students in the\u00a0Pathways for Success<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0LIFE<\/a>\u00a0programs on campus.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"A
Hannah Smith, left, a communication major from Henrico, Virginia, and former member of the Warhawks Women\u2019s Wheelchair Basketball Team, enjoys a laugh with campers during a women\u2019s wheelchair basketball camp on Tuesday, June 21, 2022. The campers, from left, are Mia Bartolotta, Kylee Koenig and Chloe Johnson, back to camera. (UW-Whitewater photos\/Craig Schreiner)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

After starting as an\u00a0elementary education major<\/a>, Smith switched to communication while maintaining\u00a0special education<\/a>\u00a0as a minor. She cited several faculty members who\u2019ve supported her academic journey, including communication faculty Corey Davis and Kathy Taylor and special education professor Rowand Robinson. Smith specifically called out the support of Taylor, who she took a class with in cross-cultural communication.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing at Whitewater proves to me every single day that this is where I belong,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

This fall, Smith plans to work with the\u00a0American Sign Language Club<\/a>\u00a0to improve her communication skills with those who are deaf and hard of hearing.<\/p>\n

She is on track to graduate this December with a B.A. in communication and a minor in special education and a\u00a0certificate in event planning and promotion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Hannah
The Warhawks\u2019 Hannah Smith, front, a communication major from Henrico, Virginia, is greeted by her mother Amy, from Richmond, Virginia, after a Friday morning game. The UW-Whitewater Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s Wheelchair Basketball Teams hosted the first day of a two-day tournament of elite college teams at Kachel Fieldhouse on Friday, Dec. 2, 2022. (UW-Whitewater photo\/Craig Schreiner)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

After receiving her degree, Smith plans to return to the Richmond, Virginia, area \u2014 where she\u2019s already made a giant impact \u2014 to seek a job incorporating communication and her desire to work with people with disabilities.<\/p>\n

Smith looks to continue working with Sportable in wheelchair basketball, including joining the women\u2019s team she helped start. She also hopes to expand the \u201cSee It, Be It\u201d project to connect people with disabilities to opportunities for career exploration and athletic development.<\/p>\n

For the next year, Smith will engage in the Sports Humanitarian leadership program with current and past winners of the award with the goal of raising awareness and support for her work in accessibility.<\/p>\n

\n

Written by Chris Lindeke | Photos by Craig Schreiner and submitted<\/p>\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/uww.edu\/news\/archive\/2024-07-espy-awards<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hannah Smith, a\u00a0communication major\u00a0at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, took the words of her mother to heart when she was recently recognized for her generosity in front of a national audience at a premium sports awards show. On July 11 in Los Angeles, Smith was honored as a winner of the\u00a0Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award\u00a0at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":11293,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[84],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-11290","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-whitewater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/11290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=11290"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=11290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}