Over 300 students volunteered their day to help with the Special Olympics, hosted for the first time ever at U. City on May 3.

Students could volunteer for three different positions.

“The first one was being a ‘buddy,’” Rachel Bromberg, Special Olympics organizer, said. “This is where you would have a one-on-one with the athlete that you were with all day. Students took them around to the events and cheered them on. Also students could be an event official, so those are the people who help run the track and field events, help with timing, starting, measuring. We also had our workers with Victory Village which were the people who hosted different carnival style games for athletes who were not competing and gave out prizes.”

Athletes from 10 different schools competed, including Pershing Elementary, Brittany Woods Middle School and University City High School in our school district.

“It looked like everyone had a good time, and I got to know a lot more of our students to see a different side of them. I think all the athletes had fun and it was nice to see them competing and succeeding,” Bromberg said.

Bromberg looks forward to U. City hosting another Special Olympics.

“I hope that U-City students will embrace doing this again and step up to the occasion,” Bromberg said. “It’s a lot of responsibility for our students to put this on and I would just hope all of our students to hold each other accountable to make the day for the athletes a special day for them.”