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Special Olympics at Tabor

Posted by Campbell Donley '17 on Jan 11, 2017 11:20:58 AM

I have had the unbelievable opportunity to take part in the founding of the Special Olympics Club here at Tabor. Last year I volunteered to help jumpstart the club with my teammate Molly Bent ’16. Unaware of the gratification this would soon bring, I found myself convincing fellow Tabor students to buy into the values of this volunteer work, while working with intellectually impaired people for the first time myself.

The biggest challenge of starting this club was putting all of our ideas into action; there are many directions to go with Special Olympics, but our focus was to hold events on our school’s campus. During our first year, we hosted a young athletes program every Sunday, a basketball tournament in the winter, and a field day in the spring. Although we were hosting all of these events for the first time, we jumped at every opportunity given to us. Through our leadership, Tabor became a Project Unify Champion School within our first year of involvement. In addition, we are one of, if not the only, Project Unify Champion schools in the country that does not have an indigenous population of intellectually impaired people. The qualifications for this recognition include: unified sports (sports that allow intellectually impaired athletes to compete alongside non-intellectually impaired athletes), an R-word campaign, and an established leadership group.

large_news1075872_994232.pngAs seniors on the board, Kat Mitchell ’17 and I now have the opportunity to carry on what last year’s seniors started. The first year was so dynamic and rewarding, but we have not stopped improving. This year we have already completed a soccer clinic and we are excited to announce that we will be hosting a polar plunge. Kat shared, “The Polar Plunge will take place on January 22, 2017 at Silvershell Beach in Marion MA. Our leadership group is working hard to organize this event, from raising money individually to planning the after party. We hope to get many Tabor students involved with this event whether they decide to plunge or volunteer at the event. Each plunger is required to raise $50 for Special Olympics, however many of the plungers have already exceeded this goal! We have had a great time planning this event so far, and cannot wait for January 22.” This has been a wonderful opportunity for Tabor to become more involved in the Special Olympics community, as we continue to grow as a program. 

The addition of the soccer clinic and polar plunge makes Tabor Academy one of the few schools that offers school-year round programming for athletes with intellectual impairments. Despite all of the recognition we have received, the best result of our work with Special Olympics is the interactions with, and effect we have on the athletes with whom we work. The smiles on their faces and the gratification received from their families is inexplicably rewarding. I will forever be grateful to Molly who gave me the opportunity to discover a passion of mine, and hope to carry this into my future endeavors.

 

Get more info about  the Polar Plunge