On Wednesday, March 11th, Lowell High School held its 11th annual Special Olympics in the Inferno. Before all of the festivities begin, we start with a very special tradition. A tradition we have done for many years: the Special Olympics Assembly. This assembly lets people attending the game get to know their team, as they are the biggest part of the event.
Before the assembly commenced, some of our Leadership Club members had some good feelings. Assistant Athletic Director Keith Kilmer states, “I felt confident that everything was going to go well. The L-Club Pep Session Committee led by Shelby Vinson, Mia Hollingsworth, Preslee Hill, Peyton Lonardi, Ashley Mecha, Josie Laub, and Emma English, did a great job of presentation. I really like the way they included Disability Awareness Month.” L-Club Co- President Sophia Vercruysse also said that she “was a bit nervous preparing for the assembly, but also very excited. This event is a great night, and I wanted to live up to all the basketball games in the prior years. There were definitely some nerves making sure everyone was having fun at the assembly, and it ran smoothly.” The other Co-President, Camden Mikulich added, “The pep rally is always one of the most exciting parts of the year. I always look forward to seeing the smiles on all the kids’ faces, the energy from the students, and all of the hype towards the game.”
As the players we were all there to see came onto the court, “it just made everything feel complete. Many other L-Club members and I have worked so hard preparing for this game, and it is actually coming together, and bringing everyone together is awesome to see. It is nice to see your hard work pay off in such an awesome way. These players deserve to have everyone show up for their games and get honored, so it was great!” Sophia says. During the pep session, many of our students were so excited to see our athletes. “It brought joy to my life. I don’t know how anyone could walk away from that experience and not be moved to happiness.” As Mr. Kilmer said, it really is an amazing part of the day. It is a moment of recognition before the big event, and it makes the day even more special. To hear the laughter and to see “The smiles on their faces are the best part of the entire day. That is the reason we do this. It lights me up and warms my heart,” as Camden states.
The whole point of the pep session is not to get out of class, but to explain why we do what we do. It is to recognize these athletes, and to get everyone excited for the main event. Mr. Kilmer says “I woke up excited. The pep session was an added bonus.” Many of our students were very happy to be able to experience this, and were happy to cheer on their fellow classmates before this basketball game. Camden states that the pep session did not only get him excited but “a lot of the students. We had a lot of people at the game, and the pep rally is always a big part of that. Seeing those kids light up and hearing Coach Kilmer’s speech makes it hard not to want to go support.”
The L-Club members did a phenomenal job putting this pep session together. From the band playing to the exciting game of Hungry Hungry Hippos, the session “gets the players in our school excited, too, and it is a great preview of the game. The goal is to hype everything up and get a great turnout. This year, I think it got people excited for the game and hopefully provided a few teaching moments as well with the disability awareness speech,” which is how Sophia felt the pep session went.
The Special Olympics is a special night. Not only for the fans to go to, but also a very special night for these high school athletes to experience. They are the reason we all do what we do, and we hope they had an amazing time, as we celebrated them.
