POINT WASHINGTON — Excitement, trepidation and determination were all evident Monday morning as more than 100 students gathered at Emerald Coast Middle School to celebrate the kick-off of Special Olympics in Walton County.
The field day event was the culmination of several months of work by a group of parents and educators determined to revive the Special Olympics Program in Walton County.
“This is more than I imagined,” said Mike Schumacher, one of two parents who lead the effort, as he watched the opening ceremony. “It’s incredible. I didn’t expect this.”
View photos from the event »
He wasn’t alone in his amazement. Students, who came from nearly every school in Walton County, took turns testing their skills at a variety of events, from bean bag tosses to kickball games.
For students like Wes Henry, the event was a first. He’d participated in track at Walton County Middle School, but he had never taken part in the Special Olympics before.
He quickly found his stride and captured a first place finish in the long jump after covering 10 feet 7 inches.
“I ran and did it,” he said afterwards as he touched his blue ribbon.
Classmate Carl McKee, who also participates in Walton Middle School’s track program, said his mom has been trying to get him involved in the
Special Olympics for awhile. Now that he’s tried it, he said he’s ready to keep going.
“I think the best part of being here is we get to do our best and try things we like,” the eighth-grader said.
According to Schumacher and Jennifer Fitzgerald, the other parent who jumpstarted the program, reactions like that are exactly why they held the field day early on in the reestablishment process.
“We’re hoping to get the kids really excited about it,” Fitzgerald said. “... We’re doing this now in preparation for events to come.”
Fitzgerald and Schumacher teamed up several months ago after being told they’d need to take their children to neighboring counties to participate in the Special Olympics.
While they plan to hold most future events in Freeport, since it’s in the middle of the county, they held this first event at ECMS because Principal Charlie Marello has played an instrumental role in getting the schools on-board.
With all their early goals met, the trio has turned their attention to the future. They hope to spend the summer working on developing sporting events for the program so that all intellectually disabled people in the county can participate and not just those in Walton County Schools.
“This shows the need, right here, today,” Fitzgerald said.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Katie Tammen at 850-315-4440 or ktammen@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieTnwfdn.
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Walton Special Olympics: 'This is more than I imagined' (GALLERY)
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