By Ruthie Peckinpaugh
The power of one cheer, one smile, or one clap to these Unified Track athletes makes their whole world light up more than you can imagine.
That is why Delta High School’s Chick-fil-A Leaders club is throwing together a unified track “party” on Wednesday, May 14 at 6 p.m. Show up early to be ready to cheer on the kids and have a blast.
Senior Chick-Fil-A member Myla Fink is one of the coordinators for this event, which is a CFA impact project.
She planned for the Blue Crew to dress in all neon and bright colors for this event. She also is helping to make posters to put around the school to get students involved.
She wants all the kids to feel like they have a big and loud crowd to make the atmosphere of this meet so fun and encouraging.
“I think definitely just promoting it around the school with posters and advertising it to be a fun event where students can go and be involved in the blue crew and be involved in the kids’ senior night,” she said. “I want the kids to feel that extra support from their classmates to make them feel ‘famous.’”
Seniors Morgan Gaddis, Keighan Minor and Jacob Snodgrass will be honored before the meet on Senior Night,
The kids from the Delta unified track team along with the Bluffton team will receive goody bags with a Chick-fil-A card for free food along with other fun stuff for the kids.
The Chick-fil-A Leaders also plan to have free pizza for all the student fans who show up for the kids. So make sure you have an empty stomach coming to the meet so you can enjoy a nice evening of pizza and unified track.
The unified kids also believe that this event will be an awesome idea for people not in unified track to see the happiness they could easily bring just to one kid.
Sophomore Sam Mosier is one of the coaches/unified track runners and has gained a special relationship with the kids. The friendship between him and Vilija Bradford this year has made the excitement and genuine happiness in unified track interesting for outsiders to watch.
“Just the happiness on the kids’ faces while they are doing what they love will be an important part of this event,” Mosier said. “The friendships we make with the kids and the smile the kids have while running brings joy to your face naturally. I want everyone to experience that feeling.”
Another big idea for this event is to make the unified track a fun environment for the spectators and participants in all the events.
Aaron Wine, a big Delta football booster, is setting up the big blow-up football helmet for the unified kids to run through at the start of the meet.
Some students in the Chick-Fil-A Leaders club and also a variety of other students are making posters with positive encouragement for each group of kids running and participating.
The club members want to make the kids feel included in our school for the social aspect and they believe screaming and shouting for them will do that in a positive way.
Fink and other members are worried for the kids to be a little bit overwhelmed with the crowd and new environment they are not used to having.
“I feel like at first they will be overwhelmed considering that they don’t normally have a large turnout for their meets,” Fink said. “But, I feel like as the night goes on we will take the steps to make them feel very seen and comfortable and loved.”
The star runners of the meet are excited for this to happen to show off their cool, new and improved skills.
These runners believe they have improved significantly this year compared to last year. Especially Jaden Carter.
Carter loves being a part of unified track and wants to continue to win events and improve as a whole while also having so much fun.
“We did good last year, but this year we are having a lot more fun and killing it,” Carter said.
Yes, our unified track team loves to win, get new PR’s, and achieve new goals but, it isn’t always about the first place medal.
Sophomore Jensen Boyd loves to help the kids have fun on the field and create memories with their classmates.
He believes people outside of this program need to see the moments with the kids rather than the gold or silver medals given out.
“I just want for more people to see that unified track isn’t supposed to be the main goal of winning the meet,” Boyd said. “It’s about creating a relationship with the kids and coaches.”
While this event is for the current unified track members, we want to make the previous athletes also feel very special.
The Chick-Fil-A members plan on making the legacy members and current members feel very appreciated in Delta Athletics.
The legacy and senior night walks will happen before the event, handing off a rose and saying all the accomplishments the seniors have had in their four years at Delta High School.
Whether this event seems like a big deal or not to the outside spectators, this event will always hold a special place in these kids’ hearts. The smiles and happiness they will have will forever be a priceless gift.
If you are free, come and support these hard-working athletes as they accomplish their goals!
