District 27 Special Education students enjoy a day in the sunshine at the 2017 Track Day

[May 23, 2017]  LINCOLN - On Monday, Central School hosted an all-day track meet for all District 27 Special Education Students. The day went very well with all the kids having a great time while getting out and participating in track events: relay, hurdles, long jump, softball throw, sprint and long runs.

All events took place on and around the Ralph Gale Field, Elementary and junior high students competed simultaneous, but separate and switching locations.

The morning included a snack time following the first round of rigorous morning events, which was enjoyed by all under the shade trees on the beautiful sun filled morning.

After the games had been finished, kids enjoyed a pizza party lunch in the Central School cafeteria, then returned outside to the Lincoln Junior High ball diamond for a special awards ceremony.

During lunch, a slideshow presentation played showing some great pictures for the District 27 CATCH Color Splash Run held last Friday. Over 200 kids participated in that event.

Todd Henry, the principal at Central, said that the day was great with a very good turnout. He said the Special Education Track Day had been an ongoing event for several years, but it had begun to dwindle down.

Special Education teacher Jill Doneghue said Track Day began before 1999. There was some consideration to dropping it after last year. Doneghue went to Henry and said that she wanted to give the event a makeover and make it a really fun day for all the kids.

She then went to District 27 Special Education Director Jill Healy and Healy was on board with all Doneghue’s ideas.

Mr. Henry said the two ladies deserved all the credit for making it work. Doneghue was the principal organizer of the event, and Healy made arrangements for the kids to receive special "2017 Track Day" t-shirts. The district also provided the pizza party for afterward.

Henry said this year more than 50 children participated in the event. He also mentioned that there was a great team of volunteers on hand to help the kids. With teachers, volunteers, and students, more than 100 people were out at the LJHS ball diamond for the track meet.

Doneghue said that the day had gone well. She said that in organizing the event, she and the other planners wanted to assure that every child that participated received a "place" in their respective competitions.

On Monday kids were divided into groups of no more than three or teams of no more than three that competed against each other. At the end of the day, in every event a participant placed either first, second or third.

After lunch, everyone gathered under a shade tree near the ball diamond for the presentation of awards. Mr. Henry announced the winners of each event while Ms. Doneghue and two helpers handed out either a blue, red, or white ribbon to each student.

For the kids participating the awards ceremony was a big deal. While some would hope to win all blue ribbons, signifying they were the best, many kids vied to see who would be the first to have at least one of every color.

With every announcement of a winner, the rest of the kids cheered and clapped, bringing big smiles to the ribbon recipients.

At the end of the day, Doneghue said that there were to be two very special awards given out.

The first would be the award for Sportsmanship. That award went to the student who was fair and helpful and all around a good sport throughout the competition. The award for sportsmanship was given to Tristian Anderson. Tristian was very excited to accept a framed certificate and enjoyed the attention he received from his fellow athletes.

 

The second award was to go to the student whom the teachers determined was the "Most Valuable Participant." Ms. Doneghue said that when the teachers gathered to discuss who this award would go to, Lakken McCollister was the first one every teacher said was a big help throughout the day.

Lakken was called to the front where he was presented not only with a certificate but also with a special trophy. Again, it was a very happy athlete who humbly accepted the trophy amidst claps and cheers from the other students.

[Nila Smith & Jan Youngquist]