Building Relationships
If you’re looking for motivation when you enter the Guthrie Y, then Quinton is your man. With a smile that lights up the room and a contagious laugh, you can’t help but get excited when he’s around. Just ask any of his group exercise classmates and they’ll agree.
Quinton isn’t your typical member. He has a genetic disorder, Fragile X Syndrome, which causes mild to moderate intellectual disabilities. As you can imagine, this can cause barriers in some situations. However, at the Y, everyone is accepting and has welcomed Quinton to the community.
“Everyone here accepts him like he is,” says Grace, Quinton’s mom. “When we first came in, I thought ‘what are they going to think of him’, but everyone embraced him and didn’t think anything of his differences.”
Every afternoon, you can find Quinton in one or more of our group exercise classes including cycling and BodyPump®. Quinton is not only working on his health at the Y, he’s formed lasting friendships and built a special connection with his buddy Van. They attend cycling together and give each other a hard time, all in good fun of course, and motivate each other to “get after it”.
He’s made such an impact on the Guthrie Y community that his friends and classmates threw him a birthday party complete with OSU cupcakes and gifts.
The Y has been a great place for Quinton to get out of the house, make friends and work on his health. As his mother watched him gain confidence and become stronger, she joined him at the Y to work on her own health. As a cancer survivor, she’s faced battles that many of us haven’t. Through working out at the Y she’s been able to lower her blood pressure and has become healthier in spirit, mind and body.
