Each year, Cass High School hosts the Special Olympics, where students with disabilities are able to compete in a series of athletic competitive events for prizes, along with a fun experience that they might not have had if not for the Special Olympics. There is a series of events that the students take part in, which are the long jump, 50-meter and 100-meter dash as well as assisted running, tennis ball throw, softball throw, and shot put.
The Special Olympics was founded in 1968 and has been a special tradition for Cass High School for 5 years in a row with no plans on stopping anytime soon. Students are a very big part of what makes the event so much more gratifying; The Special Olympics is a buddy system, where each student gets paired with their friend for the day. Junior football and soccer player, Isai Romero says, “At my first Special Olympics being a buddy was a good experience and I made a new friend during the process. It was great to see other people enjoying themselves as much as I was.” These students meet new people and learn more about them. However Isai was not the only new person to participate, there was a great deal more. Junior Chloe Carpenter was also new and had a blast. “This was my first-year time participating in the Special Olympics,” she says, “I had a lot of fun playing games and encouraging my buddy before his races. I made a new friend and I hope to see my buddy again next year.”
Many new students who were buddies this year also got to learn a different perspective on competition and sports. Arliny Matos, a journalist and basketball cheerleader says, “I had so much fun keeping track of the softball throw and giving the participants their ribbons or metals. As I finished that with my partner Bryan, we got to take care of our buddy Justin and had so much fun teaching him how to play checkers and cheering him on during his 100-meter dash.”
To sum up the 2019 Cass High School Special Olympics, it was a blast. The students met new friends and they had so much fun with the events that took place and the people that they got to meet. Everybody had so much fun and Cass does not plan on stopping this event any time soon.