Special Olympians get chance to shine

PATTERSON — Good weather permitted local student-athletes to participate in the annual Donna Adams Memorial St. Mary Parish Special Olympics held at Patterson High School.

The local track and field meet was held Friday.

“This year is especially exciting for us because we had such horrible wet weather last year that we had to cancel twice,” said Steve Harris, St. Mary Parish Schools Coordinator of Related Services for Special Education. “And we weren’t able to hold the area meet. Everything was canceled last year for the bad weather.”

There were 154 students registered for the event from ages 4 to 21. Twenty-one district area schools had students participating at the event. Students in the district’s special education program can stay in school until the age of 21.

After the opening ceremonies, the preschool kids started the races off with a fun run.

Following the preschoolers run, the 10-meter and wheelchair races began.

The 25-, 50- and 100-meter races concluded the traditional track events. It included a combination of running and walking.

The field events were tennis throw, golf throw, softball throw, shot put and standing long jump.

There are normally more events that Special Olympics athletes can participate in but those were the ones held locally this year, Harris said.

“It’s a great event,” Harris said. “It’s a great thing for kids and families. And even for all of our teachers and people that are involved in it. It’s a very special thing to them. They love it.”

Sixty to 70 student volunteers from Morgan City, Berwick, Patterson and Hanson Memorial high schools helped with the event.

On April 7, St. Mary Parish is hosting the Acadian-area Special Olympics South Track & Field Meet at West St. Mary High School. The area track meet is a preliminary event to the state event held in Hammond in May.

“Students that don’t have disabilities participate in so many things,” Harris said. “Special Olympics gives these type of children and well into adulthood … a lifetime of experiences.”

Special Olympics participants have been as old as 60 and 70.

“You see the joy of those people all the time,” Harris said. “It lets you know that you’re doing the right thing.”

Harris has worked with Special Olympics for 30 years. Twenty-plus years have been spent in a leadership position.

His work with Special Olympics is personal. Harris, a New Mexico native, had an uncle named Jack who always participated in Special Olympics.

“So, that’s kind of where my heart for this work started,” Harris said. “You just see the joy of all the children there. They just really love the opportunity to do something like this because as you can imagine — they don’t have many opportunities to perform and compete.

“And then have their parents come out and see them.”

The state Indoor Special Olympics Bowling event was held Saturday in Baton Rouge.

Two Berwick High students, Carly Adydan and Ashlyn Lewis, both 19, participated and placed in the bowling competition.

Adydan won gold in her age group while Lewis won silver in her age group.