追求他的梦想领域:帕特里克麦肯纳' 14

“其他人必须通过读书来了解LD是什么. 我是LD.”

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马克·迪彼得罗著

For a guy who began his professional baseball career this 夏天—and became a viral internet sensation this spring after top MLB pitcher Chris Sale gave him some impromptu private coaching at Fenway Park—帕特里克·麦肯纳14岁 is awfully humble.

Maybe that’s because he’s seen his share of adversity on the field and in the classroom. Disappointment (including a recurring injury that has postponed his professional career, for now) not only made him work harder for everything he has gained but gave him an appreciation for those who helped him along the way. 

The West Roxbury, Massachusetts, native talks about Landmark College as if it’s his second home. 他钦佩地谈起他的LC导师, 约翰·伍德教练, and of the faculty members who helped him break down learning barriers. With their help, he overcame a sixth-grade reading level and graduated from LC with a 3.0 grade point average and an Associate of Arts in General Studies in 2014.

This spring not only saw the sidearm pitcher st艺术 playing professional baseball—he was recruited in April by the Roswell Invaders, 独立职业佩科斯联盟的一部分, and was then picked up by the same league’s Bakersfield Train Robbers—but he also earned a bachelor’s degree in special education from Notre Dame College of Ohio in May, 以3分毕业.4平均绩点. He wants nothing more than to help children with learning disabilities overcome the struggles he himself has faced.

对于一个24岁的人来说，他非常有礼貌.

“Mr. 鲍康，我们能合个影吗?” he called out to one of his most influential former LC professors, 吉姆·鲍康是我们的老教员, 在最近的一次校园回访中.

These days, others are asking Patrick McKenna if they can have their picture taken with him. 四月份被入侵者招募, Patrick became something of an internet star after 体育writer Sahadev Sharma tweeted a photo of him conferring with Sale, 这位王牌投手现在为波士顿红袜队效力, 在芬威球场练习击球时.

Sports is important to Patrick, and he has worked hard for athletic success. But he is clear-headed about his priority: devoting his career to teaching children with LD.

“不管我在棒球场上能走多远, I want to be a symbol for someone with dyslexia or other learning challenges,他在最近一次采访中说. “我希望孩子们看到我时，不只是把我看作一个运动员, 而是一个为了成功拼命工作的人. 不管他们想做什么——音乐, 艺术, 科学, 体育, whatever it is—I want to show them how to work hard and go for it.”

Patrick faced educational challenges familiar to many LC students—in his case, 诵读困难症使上学成为每天的折磨. “I would come home and throw my book bag at the stairs every day because I was frustrated and exhausted from working so hard at school and still not doing well,他说.

He and his parents discovered the 高中暑期课程 at LC, and he knew he wanted to enroll. 到他高中毕业的时候, and despite having the opportunity to attend a bigger university on a baseball scholarship, 帕特里克选择Landmark是因为“我知道我需要在这里.”

He captained the baseball and basketball teams during his time at LC, 曾担任宿舍助理和校园大使, and he began to excel in the classroom thanks to professors like Baucom, 埃里克不光滑的, 史蒂夫·卡迈克尔, who aided his academic and personal growth with memorization techniques, 教育技术, 以及处理困难任务的自信.

“Pat had every reason to hate being in my class: he had always struggled with writing, 我让他做了很多,卡迈克尔说。, 英语助理教授, 帕特里克的发展性写作课是谁教的. “But he brought the same discipline to it that he brought to the athletic field—even 虽然 the latter was a lot more fun—and I think he understood, 作为一名运动员, that learning the fundamental mechanics of the activity and practicing them, 再三, 改进和最终精通的关键是什么.”

卡迈克尔称帕特里克为“Landmark校园里的大爸爸”, 那个脚步总是轻快的人, 一句好话, 一个有趣的故事, 都是用经典的波士顿口音说的.”

信用证后, 帕特里克被俄勒冈大学录取了, 但是夏天的一次伤病又带来了另一次失望. 他的大学棒球生涯暂停了, 他绕过俄勒冈州，进入了俄亥俄州圣母学院, where he excelled in the classroom but pitched in only one game.

然后, in 2016, 帕特里克参加了纳什维尔的Sidearm Nation训练营, 田纳西州, was encouraged to pursue his dream of a professional baseball career, 他还把自己的视频发给了50支队伍. His lack of college playing got an immediate “thumbs down” from many, 但他从球探那里得到了几次私人试训，他们看到了他的潜力. 其中一件导致了罗斯威尔入侵者的邀约.

“我通过电子邮件收到了入侵者队的邀请, 我爷爷去世三天后,他回忆道, 所以我甚至不能完全感受到那一刻的快乐.再说一遍, 虽然, he drew strength from the adversity he’d already experienced in his young life, and Patrick felt his beloved grandfather’s nudge as he went on to successfully try out for, 并最终与, 侵略者.

He left for New Mexico shortly after graduating Notre Dame College in May, 开始为入侵者队打球, 并最终与贝克斯菲尔德的火车劫匪签约, 加州, 因为球队认为他是一个终结者. He pitched three scoreless innings with the team and life was good. 不幸再次降临, 然而, when he experienced a flareup of tightness in his arm that led the Train Robbers to release him. 尽管如此，他仍然保持着积极向上的精神态度.

“任何事情的发生都有原因，我不能生气. 我证明了我可以达到这个水平，甚至更高. It’s just unfortunate that I got tightness in my arm at the wrong time.”

坚持不懈是帕特里克最优秀的品质. Refusing to let the latest obstacle derail his athletic aspirations, 几天后，他在球探面前投球. “He told me I have a lot of raw talent and he promised he would help me develop into an MLB prospect,帕特里克说. “这只是道路上的另一个颠簸. 我以前也遇到过这种情况，我知道该怎么处理. 我会继续努力，一切都会解决的.”

追求职业棒球生涯是他目前的梦想, but his long-term goal is to become a special education teacher and to motivate young children who are grappling with academic and personal difficulties. 他在圣母大学读大四的时候, 帕特里克在波士顿市中心的一所小学实习.

“I worked with kids who had a troubled home life, maybe with no mom or dad,他说. “I want my experience to be with kids who don’t have all the advantages I had. I see so much drive in them but they haven’t been given the chance to succeed, 而且很多人都没有可以信任的人.”

In this case, Patrick knows his LD gives him an advantage other teachers don’t have.

他说:“其他人必须通过读书来了解LD是什么。. “我是LD.”

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