Four Fordham students recently began Special Olympics at Fordham. Courtesy of Erin Biggins.
By Alexander Dickson
Special Olympics has just begun its first chapter at Fordham. The Special Olympics Club (SO Fordham) was approved on Oct. 22, after over a year of preparation. The club is run by four Fordham students: Erin Biggins FCRH’17, Alyssa Dolan FCRH’16, Jamie Toto FCRH’16 and Von Ancken FCRH’16. The founders all have prior experience of working with children and adults with special needs, some even volunteering at the Special Olympics itself.
“We wanted to give the athletes an additional opportunity to engage in worthwhile activities and foster their happiness because these individuals have already brought so much happiness into our own lives through the events we have taken part in throughout both high school and college,” said Dolan.
“From working with special needs individuals in high school, I’ve developed great friendships and memories that I missed when I came to Fordham. After attending my first Special Olympics World Games in 2014, I knew that this was something that Fordham needed,” Biggins said.
SO Fordham has four main objectives. The first, to gain members, has already been achieved. Over 300 people signed up at the club fair and interest is growing rapidly. Their second objective is to attend events hosted by Special Olympics New York City (SONYC), an organization that host monthly events for SO athletes throughout the five boroughs. At these events, those who sign up will either be “Fans in the Stands” cheering on the athletes or be their “buddies” for the event.
SO Fordham also aims to host events on Fordham’s campus and spread the Special Olympic values of inclusion, respect, and compassion for people with special needs.
They also plan to eradicate the casual use of the word “retarded,” as it has become colloquially used as a synonym for dumb or stupid. SO Fordham’s fourth objective is to raise funds to alleviate costs of transportation to Special Olympics events, and to be able to donate a portion of their funds to the Special Olympic games.
Unlike the Olympics and the Paralympics, the Special Olympics provides year-round training and competitions, including the Special Olympics World Games, which takes place every two years, alternating from Summer to Winter games. Special Olympic competitions are held every day across 170 countries and around 4.5 million athletes take part, in local, national or regional competitions. SONYC will be hosting multiple competitions for the rest of 2015 leading up to their winter games in February next year.
The Special Olympics has a division within its organization called SO College, which is devoted to increasing the amount of Special Olympics chapter across colleges in the United States, as well as many other locations around the world. SO Fordham is one of the newest additions to a large number of college clubs involved in the division. Biggins is glad to be a part of this national collegiate project, “Fordham’s community should foster a place of love, respect, and dignity for people with or without a disability” she said. According to Biggins, the club’s inspiration is the motto of the Special Olympics: “Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”
