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COLLINS CONNERWhen Hudson High's salutatorian describes success, she points to her sister, who has Down's syndrome.
HUDSON - When it came time to pick the topic for her graduation speech, Hudson High salutatorian Tarah Marinelli didn't have to rack her brain. She picked "success."
It was a logical choice - Tarah is a winning athlete and a top scholar. She is purposeful, goal-oriented and organized. Already, the 18-year-old has her college career mapped out and her mind set on medicine.
But in preparing her speech, Tarah looked at more than just her own experience.
She looked at the victories of a 15-year-old girl who managed Hudson High's volleyball team and goaded it to win, a girl who's an athlete in her own right, a dancer, something of a dramatic performer, and a prolific letter writer.
Tarah's other model of success is her sister, Elyse, who was born with Down's syndrome.
"We both excel in what we do in our own ways," Tarah says. "She's just as talented as me in a different way."
Here's Tarah: National Honor Society member, winner of a $4,000 Coca-Cola scholarship, class council president for three years, a star volleyball player.
Here's Elyse: one of four Special Olympians from Florida sent to the T.J. Maxx Tour of World Gymnastics Champions; a competitor in basketball, soccer, track and field.
From early childhood, Tarah watched over Elyse and Elyse trailed after Tarah.
When Elyse played basketball on a league for disabled children, Tarah and their brother, Bobby, worked as volunteers for the league. Bobby, now a student of filmmaking at the University of Florida, used Elyse as an extra in his practice videos.
Almost every other day, Elyse writes what Tarah calls "love notes" - declaring her passion for Tarah or chiding her for socializing with others. "You must be very lucky to have me as a sister," Elyse wrote in one note.
Even Tarah's friends began to safeguard Elyse.
"The first day Elyse started high school, she was walking down the hall at school and it was really overwhelming her," said Cynthia Marinelli, the girls' mother. "A group of friends of Tarah's saw her - they all knew her - and they came up and said, "It's okay, Elyse.' "
For three years, Elyse has been manager of Tarah's volleyball team, turning cartwheels at the court's edge, bringing water and delivering pep talks to the players.
"A lot of times the team managers keep stats," Tarah said. "But Elyse was more of a motivational manager. She was there for support because she loves it."
Elyse is so good at her job, she'll manage the team next year, too, though Tarah won't be on it.
To Tarah's parents, Robert and Cynthia Marinelli, each child's character was enhanced by the other's.
"All three of my children are who they are because of one another," Mrs. Marinelli said. "Because of the situation, because of the involvement, the volunteering. Rather than Elyse's circumstance being a trial, it was a win-win situation for all my children."
In weeks, Tarah will be off to college and Elyse will be the lone kid at home.
Elyse turns into an puddle every time Tarah talks about leaving.
"It's going to be a tough year next year," Mrs. Marinelli says.
Tarah will move into a student dorm at the University of Tampa. She'll play volleyball there and study the science courses that lead to medical school. She is excited at this new adventure, and almost as anxious about the separation as Elyse.
Tarah had her pick of colleges.
"I was being recruited by out-of-state schools," she said. But "I wanted to stay close to my family."
Scratch those schools across the state line.
She headed to Boca Raton to tour Florida Atlantic University, but "every hour I was driving felt like 20 days away from my family."
Scratch Boca.
The University of Tampa, however, is close enough for comfort, far enough for freedom.
She'll come regularly to the lakefront home that still draws her brother and a raft of aunts, uncles and cousins, who drop by at the hint of an occasion. There, Tarah will tap into her mom's wellspring of wisdom, her dad's moral clarity, her brother's creativity and Elyse's power of persistence.
"I can't say what I'd be if I didn't have my family and support," Tarah said. "There are people I know who don't come from big, huge families that are always there and support them and they did well.
"But I know that if I didn't have my family, it would have been 20 times harder to succeed."
At the last tournament of Tarah's Hudson High volleyball team, when the pressure was on, Elyse huddled with the players.
"She was giving us this speech," Tarah said. "Everyone just listened to her. Her words were so profound and so inspirational to us. We were totally inspired - 13 high school girls. It was perfect."
Friday night was Tarah's turn to inspire.
So the star athlete with the second highest GPA in her class worked toiled over her speech.
"It's going to be hard to get a message across to everyone," she said before the ceremony. But one key point she wanted to drill home.
"Success has different meanings to it," she wanted to tell them.
"Success comes in different forms."