2008 Woodie Awards
'Plunge' into the Special Olympics
Taylor Higgins
Issue date: 2/8/07 Section: Features
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On Saturday March 10th, Compo Beach is hosting this year's Westport Penguin Plunge to benefit Special Olympics Connecticut (SOCT).
The Special Olympics is an international organization dedicated to individuals with intellectual disabilities in an effort to help them become physically fit, productive, and respected members of society through the use of training and competition.
The Special Olympics currently serves more than 2.25 million people with intellectual disabilities in more than 200 programs in more than 150 countries.
The SOCT is made up of three regional offices, consisting of 86 local volunteer run programs.
Each year, SOCT accommodates more than 47competitions in 22 different sports. SOCT is als supported by a vast majority of people including 7,000 volunteers, 900 coaches, and countless amounts of families and friends.
"I think that the Special Olympics are a great opportunity for students to involve themselves in some kind of charity event. We don't have much of it on campus so students should take advantage of the chance to do this type of event," said Jessica Tomlin, senior, Manorville, N.Y.
"I would love to do something like the Penguin Plunge. In this case, creativity can be in your favor. You can also win cool prizes while helping the intellectually disabled," said Tom Austin, sophomore, Massapequa, N.Y.
For the Penguin Plunge, participants will plunge into the Long Island Sound with only bowties, and swimsuits (or costumes) to support the Special Olympics.
"All students are invited to plunge, and they can register at our website www.sotc.org. School teams are encouraged to participate as well, so if there's a school team or group each person does their own fundraising but then the teams totals are combined so that they are eligible for prizes," said Debbie Horne, Director of Development, Westport, who will be holding the event.
"Students are encouraged to wear costumes and make it fun. We will be having all different kinds of activities going on including aerobics, and there will also be refreshments," said Horne.
The Special Olympics is an international organization dedicated to individuals with intellectual disabilities in an effort to help them become physically fit, productive, and respected members of society through the use of training and competition.
The Special Olympics currently serves more than 2.25 million people with intellectual disabilities in more than 200 programs in more than 150 countries.
The SOCT is made up of three regional offices, consisting of 86 local volunteer run programs.
Each year, SOCT accommodates more than 47competitions in 22 different sports. SOCT is als supported by a vast majority of people including 7,000 volunteers, 900 coaches, and countless amounts of families and friends.
"I think that the Special Olympics are a great opportunity for students to involve themselves in some kind of charity event. We don't have much of it on campus so students should take advantage of the chance to do this type of event," said Jessica Tomlin, senior, Manorville, N.Y.
"I would love to do something like the Penguin Plunge. In this case, creativity can be in your favor. You can also win cool prizes while helping the intellectually disabled," said Tom Austin, sophomore, Massapequa, N.Y.
For the Penguin Plunge, participants will plunge into the Long Island Sound with only bowties, and swimsuits (or costumes) to support the Special Olympics.
"All students are invited to plunge, and they can register at our website www.sotc.org. School teams are encouraged to participate as well, so if there's a school team or group each person does their own fundraising but then the teams totals are combined so that they are eligible for prizes," said Debbie Horne, Director of Development, Westport, who will be holding the event.
"Students are encouraged to wear costumes and make it fun. We will be having all different kinds of activities going on including aerobics, and there will also be refreshments," said Horne.
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