Every fall, the Windsor school district has given the special education students a chance to compete with other schools and show off their talents. The students can be carefree and compete in the sport of bowling. In the spring, the students get to compete in track and field events.  The student council hosts this event with several different schools. Since the student council helps hosts these events, it really helps the athletes and STUCO members learn each other’s names and feel more included. On October 24, the athletes were able to compete at Imperial Bowl.

“I feel like this gives them the opportunity to socialize and learn new skills that they’re going to be needing for life in general, and it also gives them the opportunity to just have fun,” senior Ethan Glenn said.

There are athletes from the high school, middle school, elementary and the intermediate center. The way the Special Olympics work is that all of the athletes complete a pre-game to test their skill level and find out their average scores. Once the average scores are decided, each pair is placed in a lane to compete against 3 athletes with similar average scores and a similar age range. The students can win a gold medal for first place, silver for second, bronze for third and a ribbon for fourth place.

Prior to the event, many of the athletes are paired with buddies who they can become friends with so they’ll be more comfortable during the Special Olympics and the other activities that take place.

“It really helps includes kids from the building who a lot of the athletes don’t know. It also gives the little kids on the team something to look forward to whenever we go and do track and field activities they actually have a friends at that point that they can feel comfortable with and who is kind of rooting them on,” special education teacher Sarah Shackelford said.

In recent years, the Fall Special Olympics has been held at Imperial Bowl.  At these events, the student council and athletes come together and have the chance to create bonds with each other and students from schools such as Seckman, Fox, Northwest, Mapaville, Ponybird, Sullivan, Grandview and of course Windsor.

Jacobi Hatchell has been attending the Special Olympics since he was in third grade.

“It was good for exercising and the players to just enjoy themselves,” Hatchell said.

The Special Olympics helps to create friendship building and team building, therefore introducing students of all grades to different opportunities to expand their social horizons.

Shackelford said, “It’s not based on ‘are you going to win?’ It’s more about building a friendship and a positive connection with other students from the school. So, I think it’s a really positive effect on everybody involved.”