Some of our students recently participated in the Special Olympics North Central Area Spring Games on April 19, which was held at Dodger Stadium in Fort Dodge. All different schools attended, and participants included elementary-aged students to adults.
According to their website, Special Olympics Iowa currently serves 11,000 Iowans with intellectual disabilities, participants and Unified Sports Partners.
The mission of the Special Olympics is “to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.”
This year the North Central Area Spring Games was postponed originally due to weather, though students from Webster City’s Sunset Heights Elementary School, Middle School, and High School got to compete on April 19.
Middle School students
High School students
Students participated in events like softball throw, 100 meter dash, 50 meter dash, long jump, speed walk, and relays.
Students who did well enough qualified to compete at the state competition. Several Webster City students did!
Many students were able to take home ribbons that day, while other students will receive their ribbons via mail.
A student posing with her ribbon and teacher Amanda Nichols
Webster City High School Special Education teacher Amanda Nichols attended the event with her student participants.
“Special Olympics is always so much fun,” she said. “Except this year it was so cold!”
Nichols said the weather didn’t cause her students to regret participating, even though the weather wasn’t as warm as they had hoped.
“The students had such great attitudes and were so happy to be participating,” she said. “They did such an amazing job, and I am so proud of how they represented Webster City.”
Webster City Middle School principal Becky Hacker-Kluver said the students did a great job in their events.
“Everyone survived the bitter cold,” she said. Hacker-Kluver also added that students figure “they now could live at the North Pole with the Eskimos after that adventure.”
Webster City Community Schools 