Special Olympics and Flying Wild in Alaska!

This weekend was the first annual Bethel Regional Unified Invitational!!! Aka… the 1st Special Olympics in Bethel. My friend Zach is a special education teacher in Bethel and last year he had this vision that he would host a Special Olympics meet in Bethel for students around the state. He worked hard for a VERY SUCCESSFUL weekend! It was sooooo totally awesome for the students I can’t even begin to express how enjoyable the weekend was. I brought six of my students in for the even and we were joined by teams from Kwigillingok, Quinahagak, Nunapitchuk, Bethel and East High School in Anchorage. Students of all ranges of abilities were brought together to socialize, compete, and practice good sportsmanship with people from different areas of the state. Again, what a great experience it was for ALL involved… students, teachers and volunteers.
All week my students were excited. Students that literally say nearly 3 words to me a week were constantly asking what type of a plane we would take, what time we leave, what we would do etc. It was awesome to see the excitement for the event. Friday afternoon six boys, Mr. Wright and myself piled into a caravan plane and headed to Bethel. We were greeted by teachers from Bethel with a SUV and dropped off all our gear at the school. First stop… AC Value Center. It’s always a big deal for the kids to go to new stores (me too though… who am I kidding really??). We walked to and from the store (about a mile walk) and when we returned we ate dinner and began making signs for our team- KONG WOLVERINES! There were opening ceremonies in which all of the teams walked around the gym with the banners and a large portion of the community cheered in the stands. After the ceremonies a movie was played for those interested in the band room. It was just the start of a great weekend.
The next morning we all woke up, had a pancake breakfast and began the sporting events. These events included long jump, target throw, 100 dash, running relays and an obstacle course. For lunch Mr. Wright and I took the boys to Subway as we very RARELY get to go out to eat.
After lunch there was the long awaited basketball tournament. The boys were SO excited for the tournament as most of them play on the school teams as well. The boys won their first to games and made it to the championship game against Bethel. The Bethel kids had a GREAT game and made a lot of free throws. They ended up scoring more points but it was well deserved. There was an awards ceremony following the events and every one of my students earned a ribbon.
We again walked to the store in the evening and then the dancing began! Of course—the dance started as usual. My students would NOT go out onto the floor. I was not surprised as this is how every dance has gone in the past. I kept encouraging them to go and even made myself go out there as much as I hate doing that. I got a few girls to ask them to dance and they wouldn’t budge. Finally I asked one of the boys why not and he said he didn’t know how. Well since I don’t have mad dancing skills either… I hooked him up with some of the male teachers who were out busting moves. One student danced… and even danced with one of the girls from a different village and he then talked to the other boys and told them it wasn’t that bad… to just go try. Only two more came out to dance but I was so surprised that 2 of the 3 boys were my QUIETEST most reserved students in class! They were so brave to go out there and I was so proud. I even ended up dancing and having a blast seeing them have fun.
Sunday we headed back to Kong but had a delay in the travels. We were scheduled to check in at 11:30 but due to fog didn’t leave until a few hours later. The students were all hungry so we took them out to eat for a second time! Pretty exciting for them. We went to Front Street Grill in Bethel… all the students from Kong, Kwig, Nunap and Quinahagak were there along with the Bethel staff who helped out.
(I HAD to take a picture of this menu... never seen these items on a menu before... only in Bethel...)
When we finished eating we got the message that the plane was ready to take off. After arriving at Hageland… we were greeted by the camera man from Flying Wild in Alaska. This is a newer show on the Discovery Channel, which shows the adventure of traveling to different towns and villages from around Alaska that are only reached by smaller planes etc. When we were at the Special Olympics they camera crew was there as well. Turns out they had gone to Nunapichuk to tape some of the NYO (Native Youth Olympics) events and then found out about the Special Olympics going on in Bethel. They decided to head into Bethel for the events and then rode with us to Kong! We should air sometime in July!
(This is a picture of the camera guy and the pilot in the very front... just for proof!)