Students eat pizza after sporting events at the Special Olympics Expo Friday. The expo was organized by professor Stephanie West’s recreation program planning class. Photo by Casey Gahagan

by MARY ELIZABETH ROBERTSON
Lifestyles Reporter

Students in one professor’s recreation program planning class are assigned more than just homework and papers.

Stephanie West, recreation management professor and program coordinator for the Department of Health, Leisure and Exercise Science said the course is offered as a service-learning class because she believes students tend to learn more through experience.

“It would be crazy to learn about how to develop and implement programs by just reading and talking about it,” West said.

In her class, students were put in groups and told to choose a program out of a list of 14 for which they would like to plan a special event.

One group chose to plan a Special Olympics sports expo for the Watauga County Special Olympics.

Freshman Ryan A. Forsyth, sophomore Travis R. Mathews and freshman Autumn E. Wheeler, each recreation management majors, found volunteers and hosted the event at Old Cove Creek Park in Sugar Grove Friday.

Greal Johnson enjoys pepperoni pizza on the stairs outside the gym where basketball, volleyball and kung fu events were held Friday at the Special Olympics Expo. Photo by Casey Gahagan

“We got to see the level of organization involved [in planning an event],” Forsyth said. “You can’t plan an event of that size if you aren’t organized. In the planning, you can’t see the fruits of your labor, but at the event, you get to see how it all came together.”

Appalachian State University, Lenoir-Rhyne University and the community acquired 23 volunteers to set up stations for track and field, Kung Fu martial arts, bocce ball, cycling and volleyball.

Of the 37 participants, nine competed in the 2009 Special Olympics North Carolina Western Bocce Tournament in Charlotte Oct. 24.

They came back with silver medals.

For Keron J. Poteat, Special Olympics county coordinator, the main goal of the event was to provide the opportunity for learning, “to be introduced to a sport [the participants] may not have tried and to learn a skill or two from that sport,” Poteat said.

Poteat observed participants being more compassionate, understanding and accommodating toward other individuals.
“I think the practical experience is hugely beneficial to [event organizers],” she said.

According to specialolympics.org, Special Olympics is for people with intellectual disabilities and is often the only place where they have an opportunity to participate in their communities and develop belief in themselves.

Also according to the Web site, many participants live lives of neglect and isolation, hidden away or socially excluded from full participation in schools or society. For athletes, Special Olympic sports provide a gateway to empowerment, competence, acceptance and joy.

Poteat hopes the event will inspire others to volunteer.

“In the Special Olympics, you are in a different mindset,” Poteat said. “Like, when you are working with [a participant], you are not trying to achieve any sort of perfection, you are doing it just to have fun.”

Photo by Casey Gahagan  |  The Appalachian

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