By Jose Lara Montenegro SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – The Syracuse Special Olympics were held at the Corcoran Athletics High School in Syracuse Thursday for the second consecutive year. Around 300 people participated in a variety of sports. The participants were from ages 4-12.
The event started around 9:00 a.m., with the introductory ceremony, where many participants were able to carry out a paper flame, to represent the Olympic torch. After the introduction, participants competed in the races, which included the 50-meter race and the 100-meter race. Other sports included were softball throw, shot put, long jump, and broad jump.
“It feels great, it’s really empowering to see the kids do something that the like, for them to showcase their talent and show how amazing they are with the sports,” said Madison Guy, who helped with the organization of the Special Olympics at the school. “They were really happy with the activity, seeing the smiles on their faces when they got the medals was really good and really nice.”
Many of the people that helped conduct the event were excited and say that the activity needs to happen there again during the next year. That has not been confirmed yet.
“I will really love to do it again,” said Adrian Dunlap, who helped this year for her first time.
The event lasted three hours. Combining the participants, people watching and helping, there were around 1,000 people at the event.
Madison Guy:
“They were really happy doing the activity really watching their smiles in their faces when they got the medals made it so worth it.”
Reporter:
There were a bunch of people smiling today, that’s because the SCSD Special Olympics were held today at the Corcoran High School in Syracuse. It started with the paper flame, that set the tone.
Madison Guy:
“It feels great, it’s really empowering to see the kids do something that the like, for them to showcase their talent and show how amazing they are with the sports”
Reporter:
More than 300 participants attended in the event, where kids between four and 12 were able to showcase their talents and win medals. Even though not all of them won a medal, most of them had a good time.
Madison Guy:
“It makes them happy, every kid that I saw here today had a big smile in their face, when they did the events, even if they didn’t win anything, I think is a great way of enjoying themselves.”
Reporter:
“The SCSD Special Olympics just wrapped up here at the Corcoran High School, this year they told they had around 1,000 people coming into the event. Even though it’s the second year they are doing the event they told me they always learn something new. What did they learn this year? That there are many high school students willing to help in the event as they had around 80 high school students helping today.”
Food Team:
“What did you guys do here today? We serve food.”
Reporter:
The sports included the 50 and the 100-meter dash, softball throw, shot put, long jump and broad jump.
Adrian Dunlap:
“I will do it again, I will definitely do it again.”
