Outstanding athletes
Whether competing in a Unified sports event, enjoying a dance or visiting with a peer partner, participants in Trussville City Schools’ Special Olympics Program are often all smiles.
Now they have one more reason to gleam: a new plaque with gold, silver and bronze medals that sits in the Hewitt-Trussville High School exceptional education classroom.
On Nov. 7, Special Olympics Alabama awarded the Trussville City Schools Special Olympics Program as the Outstanding Special Olympics Program in Alabama for 2018.
“It was quite an honor. I was excited. We’ve grown from a very small program, from which I had no idea what I was doing, to something that makes a big impact on the community,” said Carrie Jones, TCS Special Olympics Unified Sports and Recreation/ Leisure program coordinator
The award honors not only the students and teachers in the program, but the 85 peer partners who work with the program and other volunteers.
“To receive this recognition that, ‘Your program is doing well. You’re doing good things. We appreciate you,’ from the state level [is] validation for our students. It says, ‘We recognize you guys. We’re glad you’re a part of what we’re doing,’” Jones said. “The students were pumped.”
Jones believes the award comes from the program’s support of Special Olympics Alabama, promotion of the importance of Special Olympics and annual track and field event it hosts each fall.
In October, Trussville City Schools held a Unified track and field event through Special Olympics Alabama.
Participants overall ranged in age from 8 to 40s. TCS invites other school systems such as Homewood, Hoover, Mountain Brook and Vestavia Hills to participate in the event, which created a partnership between the school systems in Metro Birmingham. This partnership allows Trussville to participate in most of the Special Olympics sports offered throughout the state.
In addition to Trussville’s own track and field event, the program is one of four teams in the annual Unified flag football tournament, sponsored by Alabama Special Olympics and the Alabama High School Athletic Association.
While the football team lost in the state semifinals this year, it has competed in the state finals at both Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium and Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium over the last five years.
TCS Special Olympics also competed in Vestavia’s bowling event in November and are invited to participate in Jefferson County’s basketball event in January. Trussville is looking to host a soccer event this spring, too.
The program goes beyond the Unified sports opportunities, though.
It invites other local systems to participate in two annual dances– the Monster Mash for Halloween and the Sweetheart Dance at Valentine’s.
“It keeps those connections strong and displays our true desire for our students’ age-appropriate recreation and leisure opportunities that keep them connected and keep them physically, mentally and emotionally healthy,” Jones said.
Coach Tim Meacham, who accepted the award in Montgomery in November on behalf of the program, works closely with the kids in all sports and for special dances.
Jones, who has taught exceptional education for 24 years, including 20 in Trussville schools, says the program wouldn’t exist without the support it receives locally and at the state level, including support from Jefferson County Schools after the TCS system formed.
“We appreciate Special Olympics Alabama for supporting us [as] we’ve built this program. They’ve been very patient in teaching me and helping me train other coaches and working with me along the way. There’s been a lot of collaboration,” Jones said. “I appreciate their support and the Trussville City Schools board, [Superintendent] Dr. Patti Neal, [TCS Athletic Director] Lance Walker and [Hewitt-Trussville High School principal] Tim Salem. Without them we couldn’t do it here.”