Archives > Little Elm Journal > News
Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
RSS
Share
New flags, banners add color to third LEISD Special Olympics
By Penny Rathbun, Staff writer
With new flags and banners more than 250 athletes from five school districts paraded into the LEISD Athletic Complex on May 20 for the third annual LEISD Special Olympic track meet.
The Little Elm High School Wintergard lead the procession into the stadium with a new flag for each of the five school districts that participated.
“Things went very smoothly this year,” said Phyllis Stout, Director of Special Populations for LEISD. She is also instrumental in organizing the event.
The Special Olympics gives children with intellectual and physical disabilities the chance to participate in Olympic-style events.
Each athlete was paired with a buddy from Little Elm High School. That person spent the day with the special athlete they were paired with, cheering them on and making sure their athlete enjoyed the experience.
LEHS students must go through training and maintain a certain grade average to be a mentor for one of the athletes. Stout said many of the athlete buddies this year asked to be paired with the same athlete they worked with last year.
Last year rain cut short the event, but not this year. The weather was cooperative, though only five of the eight expected school districts were able to participate. Fear of a flu epidemic caused the event to be postponed to May 20 when it was originally scheduled for May 7. That caused the Sanger, Keller, and Ponder districts not to be able to participate.
Pilot Point, Little Elm, Lake Dallas, and Frisco school districts participated.
Also new this year is each athlete received a medal for participating.
“We're impacting more folks than I ever realized,” Stout said. “The students who act as buddies learn to be accepting of their peers with disabilities. We don't have control over what we're born with,”
She said several volunteers cooked a meal for volunteers and sponsors, and Krispy Kreme donated 50 dozen donuts.
Each year after the event she and other organizers start planning to try to make the event better next year.
“We can give Little Elm students the opportunity to build friendships and work with students with different abilities both in the classroom and in the field of athletic competition. Whether they are participants or a buddy or a spectator, we believe this program teaches many valuable life lessons,” Stout said.
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
You must register with a valid email to post comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here:
Become a Registered User
- Return to: News «
- Home «
- Top of Page ^
