SMITHFIELD — Ten-year old Megan Lunn has dreams of the Olympics. The Our Lady of Mercy student and figure skater has let her inspiring personality shine on the ice and in the classroom.
“Skating helps me be more confident in myself,” said Megan, who practices four times a week at rinks in Warwick and Smithfield. “I think everyone should be in a sport and find something they are good at.”
Megan’s coach, Wendy Whitman, who has been helping figure skaters learn to be champions on the ice for 18 years, said that Megan is a fabulous skater.
“She has come a long way in the past 10 months,” Whitman explained. “She pays special attention to the details. She wants to be great and she will be great someday. She brings a lot of qualities to the ice: her good character, her positivity. She helps people when they are down and out.”
As soon as Megan could walk, her parents had her in skates, said her mom Mary Ellen Lunn, of Warwick. A former figure skater herself, Lunn explained that skating continues to build confidence in her daughter.
“To get yourself on the ice, that takes a lot,” she said. “I see that there’s a drive that all of her efforts are worth it. She has the will to just keep at it and never give up.”
The young athlete said that the best part about skating has been making friends and performing competitively.
“I like to compete,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun. I like to travel to places around the country.”
This year, Megan skated in several competitions, placing second in the New England regional competition. It was there that her talent caught the eye of organizers of the Providence tree lighting event. In a series of spins, jumps and intricate footwork, Megan and other local skaters performed the challenging moves on the ice at the annual tree lighting at the Bank of America Skating Center at Kennedy Plaza, in downtown Providence.
“I thought that was a really fun experience,” said Megan. “I just had a great time. I just wanted to entertain the crowd.”
Megan shared that she would love to go to the Olympics and take first place just like her favorite American figure skater, Evan Lysacek, a 2010 Olympic Champion.
“I watched him in the 2010 Winter Olympics,” she said. “I loved how confident and how proud of himself he was.”
Dedicated to her skating, Megan said that if she could, she would skate all day long, but her mom reminds her that school must come first.
“We wanted to give her the best start we could for an education,” said Lunn about sending her daughter to OLM. “We wanted her to learn how to come closer to God and see how God works in our lives. It’s probably one of the best decisions we have made.”
Sister Jeanne Barry, R.S.M., principal of Our Lady of Mercy explained that Megan’s dedication to skating is an inspiring example to her classmates.
“She’s a wonderful addition to the school,” said Sister Barry. “Were proud of her accomplishments. She knows where she is headed and what she has to do to get there. You can just see that determination in her. I'll be looking for her on television in a few years.”
Much like in her Catholic education, figure skating has taught Megan many life lessons, her mother explained.
“It has taught her how to confront and harness her fears,” she said. “We are really proud of her. It’s nice when they find something that they love to do. The talent that God has given her, we are going to try to nurture that and see how far she goes.”
