Students of all ages and abilities tuned their soccer skills on Wednesday, Oct. 23 for the 25th annual Special Olympics. Athletes from all over the St. Louis area competed while accompanied by over 300 student buddies.
“This year we had too many buddies volunteer,” senior Annie Kister, sub chair of the traffic committee for Special Olympics, said. “Not everyone was able to have their own athlete. I was very proud that everyone was so willing to help and excited to be a part of it.”
Buddies had many reasons for volunteering to make the day a success.
“I decided to be involved in Special Olympics because I feel that it’s a great thing to do and I love to volunteer,” sophomore Katie Heitz said.
Others, in contrast, had more personal reasons to get involved with the event.
“I decided to be involved because I love putting myself in other people’s shoes,” senior Nick Ceriotti said. “When I was a kid, I was in one of the Special Education programs. It wasn’t fun until I did something close to our Special Olympics.”
Because Ceriotti enjoyed the school’s Special Olympics program so much when he was younger, he wanted to help others have as good of an experience as he did. One of his favorite ways to keep the day lively was playing music, which helped him connect even further to his buddies.
“The experience was beneficial because I made my my group happy and I love to see people smile,” Ceriotti said. “If you can make someone’s day better, do it.”
While buddies were on the forefront for each individual buddy, many students worked behind the scenes to make the day a success.
According to Kister, the Special Olympics committees worked their hardest to make the 25th annual event “the biggest and best” so far, and were pleased with the results.
“We’ve been planning for about a month and a half, since right after Homecoming,” Kister said. “I’m in independent study for STUCO, so we worked every block planning and organizing.”
In the final days before the event, the committees exerted even more effort to polish the final plans, including coming to school at 5:30 in the morning.
“The day before the event we have to organize all of the buckets with the specific shirts for the buddies and athletes,” Kister said. “The morning of we set up the concession stand, set up stuff for the opening ceremony, and set up the fields.”
Like Kister, junior soccer player and STUCO representative Matthew Schmittdiel helped with traffic early in the morning. In addition, he helped with the individual soccer skills for athletes.
“I got to wear a nice orange vest and a walkie talkie which was awesome,” Schmittdiel said. “After, I helped out on the pink field with the 15 meter dribble, shooting and run and kick stations.”
Though he was busy throughout the day, Schmittdiel enjoyed the event like many others.
“The most rewarding part of the day is just seeing how happy all the athletes were, even though it was so cold out,” Schmittdiel said. “I personally enjoy it because my brother, who is in the Special School District, absolutely loves it and it is something that the athletes look forward to every year.”
Freshman Carly Lander witnessed the athlete’s overjoyed reactions to the day.
“The best part of the day was seeing the smiles and the happiness in the kids eyes when they were having such a great time,” Lander said.
For Heitz, the best part of the day was a more tangible moment.
“The best part of the day was either winning our first game or getting to play wii baseball at the carnival, which my athlete loved,” Heitz said.
Because the success of the event this year and every year, Schmittdiel urges other students to participate in the future as well.
“People should be involved because its giving back to the community,” Schmittdiel said. “If you have never done it before, it’s a pretty good feeling.”
First time volunteer Lander echoed Schmittdiel’s perspectives on the day.
“I learned from this experience to not take life for granted and to be happy with what I have,” Lander said. “I had such a great time and I can’t wait for next year.”
