Mary Ellen Powers, of Barrington, left, a member of the Special Olympics Rhode Island Magazine TV crew, gets a kiss from her mother, Maggie, a few years ago.

The Providence Journal / Bill Murphy

Mary-Ellen Powers has competed in sailing, swimming, basketball, soccer, and track and field, and she has a slew of medals to prove it.

A graduate of Barrington High School, the soon-to-be 26-year-old completed a college program at Salve Regina University to become a teacher’s assistant and has been working at the Meeting Street School for six years.

She has her own apartment, drives her own car and manages her own finances.

In short, Powers hasn’t let the fact that she has Down syndrome stop her from accomplishing anything she’s set her mind to.

And tonight, she will add another impressive accomplishment to her résumé when she is honored by the New England Cable & Telecommunications Association’s 19th annual Public Service and Excellence in Cable Television Awards, to be held at OceanCliff in Newport.

In addition to being honored with the rest of the staff from Special Olympics Rhode Island Magazine, which is receiving a John Notte III Award for Superior Production Values in the category of System: News and Information, Program Series, Powers is also receiving a John Notte III Award for Superior Production Values in the category of System: Individual Achievement-Cable Television Program Host/Reporter, Program Series.

Although the show has been honored several times by NECTA, Powers is the first from Special Olympics Rhode Island Magazine to receive an individual award.

“When I read the e-mail, I was literally speechless,” said Powers, who learned she had won from Gerri Walter, Special Olympics Rhode Island’s Director of Public Relations, during last month’s taping of the show. “I had no words for 10 minutes. It was truly a surprise. The day after I got the news, I went out and bought a dress.”

Created in 1998, Special Olympics Rhode Island Magazine was the first and remains the only Special Olympics program in North America in which the on-air talent and production crew are all Special Olympians, according to Walter.

Taped once a month at the Public Broadcasting Station studio in Pawtucket, the program appears on Cox Sports Television on Sundays (11 a.m.), Tuesdays (5 p.m.) and Wednesdays (5:30 p.m.). It aims to create awareness about the Special Olympics movement by highlighting the accomplishments of individuals with intellectual disabilities, as well as the volunteers and corporations throughout Rhode Island that support the organization.

Powers and International Global Messenger Henry Moretti serve as cohosts with Mary Irons and Maegen Miller serving as reporters. The production crew consists of Michael Bullock (director), Michael Walter (audio), Michael Jendzejec (camera), Michael Lucca (camera), Bill Guy (camera), Steven Zanecchia (camera) and Gabrielle Giliotti (camera/floor director).

“We’re very unique in what we do,” said Walter, who is also the producer of the cable program that recently inspired a Japanese film company to create a documentary involving Special Olympians from its country. “It is a great public relations tool for us to get our message out there. And the fact that athletes are doing it just shows Rhode Island what their capabilities are and that they have talents just like everyone else.”

Powers, who worked behind the camera before becoming Moretti’s cohost in 2002, still remembers her first interview.

“You could tell I was wicked nervous,” she said. “I had to stop so many times, I called myself the queen of the bloopers. But now I’m just so relaxed. The difference between now and then is very different.”

“She was very, very shy, very unsure of herself when she did interviews when she first started,” Walter said of Powers, who has reported from the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Ireland and the 2005 World Winter Games in Japan. “I was preparing all of the questions for her. Now she does her own research. She writes her own question. She puts a lot of time and effort into her interviews. It’s nice to see her recognized for her talents and what she does with the show.”

Granted an exclusive one-on-one with Nancy Pelosi during the speaker of the House’s visit to Rhode Island last summer, Powers ranks that interview among her favorites, along with her two sessions with Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder of Special Olympics 40 years ago. Interviews with actress and singer Vanessa Williams, as well as New England Patriots center Dan Koppen also are at the top of her list.

Don and Maggie Powers think about all of the uncertainty that hung over their daughter when she was diagnosed at birth as having Mosaic Down syndrome, a rare form that affects only one percent of babies born with Down syndrome in which a percentage of the child’s cells are normal while others have an extra chromosome.

Although Mary-Ellen has encountered her share of obstacles and continues to face challenges every day, she never ceases to amaze her mother who calls her middle child “a ray of sunshine.”

“We’ve never said never to her,” Maggie Powers said. “If anything, we have to rein her in because she has very big dreams. She wants to go to the White House. She wants a family. The whole thing. She wants it all. I don’t think there’s anything that would stop her.

“She is a remarkable young woman,” she continued, noting the special bond Mary-Ellen has formed with her 16-year-old brother, Patrick, who is autistic. “It really gives younger parents a lot of hope to meet Mary-Ellen. She drives. She went to Salve Regina and has a regular fulltime job with benefits. She runs dances and organizes parties. Plus she competes. Plus she coaches. So she really does very well. She’s a very busy young woman. This kid has had more opportunities than we’ve had in our lifetimes.”

For information about Special Olympics Rhode Island, log on to http://www.specialolympicsri.org

cthorn@projo.com