I only cry watching a certain type of movie. It’s when someone overcomes tremendous adversity to succeed beyond their wildest dreams. I can’t stop it, the tears just flow from my eyes as I witness a heroic act: David overcoming Goliath, Joan of Arc leading the French rebellion, Ghandi on a hunger strike or land mine victims walking again for the first time. I’m a great believer in the old adage that “if you work hard or set your mind to something, you can do anything you want.” Out of all the young people I have worked with in the HICCUP circus Shannon Hassard was perhaps our, all time, best example of this.

Mark Glick, my fellow grant writer, wrote about Shannon in 2001 , “Over the years, the HICCUP group of instructors expanded to include internationally renown circus arts educators and performers as well as talented students who…