Special education graduate wins McGraw Award for Student Excellence

April 10, 2015

It was a coach on her high school softball team who first told Kelly McGrail that she'd make a great teacher, citing her ability to rephrase and reframe information for others to best hear it. She later started working with people with disabilities as part of an adaptive physical education program with the South Suburban Special Recreation Association.

Now, teaching is her calling, and she especially enjoys working with young elementary kids with moderate to severe disabilities and helping them to achieve academic, social and vocational success.

"I really connect with these kids and can see their potential," she said. "I love the happiness and appreciation they bring to what they do."

McGrail, a native of Tinley Park, Ill., is the winner of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater 2015 McGraw Award for Student Excellence. She considers herself completely defined by her experience playing softball for 17 years.

"It taught me to be the leader I am," she says. "Everything I learned on the field, I apply off the field too."

And it was softball that brought her to UW-Whitewater, where she could pursue both the sport and a degree in special education.

"(UW-Whitewater) was a unique combination and fit," says McGrail.

McGrail was successful in both softball and academics at UW-Whitewater, where she garnered numerous awards and accolades. A Chancellor's Scholar-Athlete Award recipient, she received the College of Education and Professional Studies Outstanding Junior Award, the 2014 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Judy Kruckman Softball Scholar-Athlete Award, the Elite 89 Award for the 2014 NCAA Division III softball championship and was named Academic All-American.

She cites her softball coaches, Brenda Volk and Beth Bonuso, as the mentors who made her the player she became, and her academic adviser, Associate Professor of Special Education Rowand Robinson, for helping her plan her future. Robinson remembers McGrail as a focused student.

"Kelly did high-quality work," he said. "She came in with plan in hand and possible solutions to the challenges in her plan. She made it easy to be her adviser."

McGrail, who graduated in December 2014, is currently coaching for the Victor J. Andrew High School softball team she once played for and substitute teaching while she applies for full-time teaching positions.