Special Olympics

Rachel McInerney and her athlete Carson at Special Olympics

Nate Garpiel ’14

Staff Writer

On Thursday, January 24, the 34th annual Special Olympics kicked off at Apple Mountain where about 250 athletes competed. The athletes, ranging from age 8 to 55 years of age, are all from Saginaw County. The Nouvel Seniors were bused over to Apple Mountain Thursday morning to volunteer at the events. Along with Nouvel were volunteers from various other schools including Heritage and Hemlock. Each athlete was paired with at least one volunteer and would compete in multiple events, which kicked off at 10 am. The events that were held at the Special Olympics included Cross Country Skiing, Tobogganing, Downhill Skiing, Snowshoes, Broom Ball, Tug a War, and Snow Mobile Rides.

Challenge Mountain is an organization dedicated to enriching and improving lives for the mentally and physically challenged through outdoor activities. They donated volunteers and equipment to make a very special day for very special people. The main activity they provided was snowmobile rides to the athletes that were wheelchair bound and struggled to move. Even though it was cold, the athletes thoroughly enjoyed the events and activities. Senor Dylan Schnepf was paired with Caleb, age 14, and he made it a very memorable trip for Caleb. Caleb in the middle of a speech, grabbed the microphone to tell his Mother hi and putting a smile on everyone face in the room. When Dylan asked Caleb “Caleb, what’d we do today?” Caleb responded with a loud yell “HAD FUN!” Along with Caleb, the rest of the athletes enjoyed their activities at Apple Mountain. As the day was wrapping up around 1:45, all of the athletes and volunteers were rounded up in the common room for a heartwarming thanks and goodbye.