In 2007, I worked with a team of journalists and students to build the first Special Olympics Live website. I was able to travel to Dublin, Ireland, with fellow photojournalist Melissa Tuck, who co-produced this story, to document Aisling O’Brien’s everyday life. At the time, Aisling was a Special Olympic athlete who attended Trinity College and dreamed of studying hair and beauty after the completion of her certificate.

In October 2007, I traveled to Shanghai, China, where I helped provide full video coverage of the Special Olympic World Games and acted as part of production team to cover 7,000 athletes and 27 sporting events over 10 days. I had the opportunity to train Chinese college students in video gathering and Final Cut and assisted in daily editing.