'It's extra exciting this year': Special Olympics makes post-COVID comeback in Dartmouth

DARTMOUTH — It was a day rich in sunshine, smiles and laughter on Friday at Dartmouth Memorial Stadium, as over 430 students and some graduates representing seven SouthCoast school districts came together for the 2022 Special Olympics being hosted there.

While the event has always been highly anticipated throughout its 15-year history, this year's return —- after COVID-19 foiled the past two — felt more needed than ever for many.

"We keep referring to 'last year' when talking about it, but it wasn't," said Fairhaven High School teacher Karen Ramsden of recent conversations she's had about the last time Fairhaven students got to participate in the Special Olympics. "It's kind of a shock when you realize, wow, it was actually three years ago already."

Looking on at the group of nearby Fairhaven students taking turns trying to kick a soccer ball past a goaltending classmate, Ramsden said, "This... this feels normal. This is good."

While the time since 2019 seems to have flown by to some, to others — such as school-age children for whom those years may have entailed a near-complete middle school career or most of high school — the lapse has meant the absence of this annual excitement through multiple educational and developmental milestones, or that it's been absent altogether.

In the case of Fairhaven Public Schools students, their last Special Olympics in 2019 had also been their first.

Home equity theft?: How this New Bedford retiree lost her house over $10,000 in tax debt

"There's only a few returning from last time, so they're seniors now, and then we have younger students who are doing this for the first time today," said Ramsden, who aside from teaching, is also an assistant Unified Sports coach. "It's one of the best days of the school year."

Besides students from Fairhaven and the host district of Dartmouth, participating districts this year were New Bedford, Fairhaven, Westport, Freetown-Lakeville Regional and the Southeastern Massachusetts Educational Collaborative (SMECC).

A SouthCoast tradition that inspires

To Dartmouth High special education teacher and class of 2011 alumni John Breault — who, aside from pausing for the occasional high-five, spent Friday darting around the field to help things run smoothly — the Special Olympics has played an essential role. Having been involved since its inception while serving as a volunteer intern under adaptive physical education teacher Michael Cappello, Breault can recall the event's origins firsthand.

"Prior to the first official (Special Olympics) around 2007, what Mike Cappello would do was take our Special Olympians to other regional events and eventually he just realized it was a long day, so why not start our own where we can have people around us participate?" Breault said. "I knew then that's what I wanted to go to college for."

Breault credits personal family experience as another guiding force that led him to his career path.

"I also have an aunt with Down syndrome and I watched her participate in the Special Olympics for years," he said. "So just having that family interaction and then being able to get that experience as an intern — that's what made me go towards special education."

Refreshing the formula

This year's Special Olympics saw some changes to the format used in previous years: no longer were age groups and activities divided between indoor and outdoor areas at Dartmouth High. Instead, the town's new football stadium a few miles away on Slocum Road was divided up into stations for activities like javelin tossing, hurdling, soccer, and a running race.

The benefits of switching venues were realized as a circumstance of COVID, Breault said. "Last year, we got approval to do a smaller event but it had to be all outdoors, so we said why not use our new turf field?" Breault said. The smaller-scale and restrictions of the 2021 event meant a mask requirement and that it could involve Dartmouth students only. However, it gave organizers a sneak peek at how Memorial Field could be used once the full-scale event returned. "It's so nice to have everybody able to do everything together, from the opening ceremonies, to the events, to the awards, lunch — it's great to just be in one spot," Breault said.

About an hour in, Dartmouth High freshman Alexis Benjamin, 14 — who had sung the National Anthem that morning during opening ceremonies — said the running race had been her favorite event so far.

Dartmouth High ninth-grader Daniel Howayezk, 16, debated to himself for a moment before deciding his favorite event had been the long jump. "I missed this," said Howayezk, recalling his last Special Olympics participation as an elementary school student. "I couldn't do it in middle school."

"It's extra exciting this year," said Dartmouth High senior Brian Edwards, 19. "To be back with all this stuff going on, no masks required — it's just all good."

Catch up on housing news: 'The cries of his people': Residents call for action on New Bedford's housing crisis

Edwards, who will be attending UMass Boston next year, says Unified Sports, the Special Olympics and other sporting activities have been such a major part of his life, they've become a favorite theme when he does his artwork, as he did for his Advanced Placement Art showpieces. "We had an AP Art show, then our high school one. I had four paintings — one of them had to do with Unified Sports, two of the others had to do with specific Unified Sports," Edwards said, also noting some sports-based oil pastel drawings he'd done. Next year, Edwards — who is currently enrolled in AP Art and AP Calculus at the high school — plans to major in mathematics and minor in art when he attends UMass.

When asked if he'd consider returning to participate in Dartmouth's Special Olympics next year, Edwards said, "I'll be an alumni, but yeah — I'll do it again."

The next generation

While Friday's event was staffed by plenty of school faculty from all the participating schools, as well as a sizable police detail, it still wouldn't have been possible without the many student volunteers as well. For Fairhaven High senior Jacob Larocque, it was his first time helping out at the Special Olympics, but his experience working with classmates who have special needs spans most of his life.

"I'm made for this," said Larocque, 18.

The soon-to-be graduate — who is also involved with Fairhaven's Unified Sports programming — traces his special education experience back to kindergarten, when he discovered just how much his help and care meant to a classmate with special needs. "At that age, I didn't realize what I was doing — he was one of my best friends and I was just helping him," Larocque said. "I already understood the content, so they were able to pull me out of the classroom to help him because he focused a lot better with me around."

Larocque, who noted having convinced three classmates to join him as mentors Friday, said he's done what he can to promote programming such as the Special Olympics and Unified Sports around his school. "I try to bring people in and make them see why these programs are important," he said. "We just had sectionals last week in Unified track and a couple of our kids actually made states. ... And Unified basketball is cool because it's indoors, so we cheer and yell as loud as possible and they just love it."

Heads up!: State officials working to create 'playbook' to manage nine SouthCoast DCR properties

Not unlike Breault, Larocque says his experiences as a student working with peers who have special needs have led him into his career choice, as he gets ready to attend Bridgewater State University next year to major in special education.

Another thing the two seem to share in common is a desire to continue having a presence in the places where their calling was first found.

"I hope I can come back and stay involved with everything," Larocque said.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Special Olympics makes post-COVID comeback in Dartmouth