West Greene holds “Golympics”
School districts across Greene County participated in the first “Golympics” event at West Greene, during which students with special needs were able to compete.
Eight activity stations such as basketball, Jenga, golf and cornhole were set up in the high school gym for 48 students from West Greene, Carmichaels, Jefferson-Morgan and Intermediate Unit 1.
West Greene’s academic director, Jed Hamberger, said that over the past five years, his district had been taking its 10 “life-skills” students to McGuffey School District, which holds a similar event each year for special-needs students in Washington County.
“We wanted to bring it to Greene County, to make it more affordable for the districts down here,” he said. “We’re very passionate about this.”
The students received medals and certificates for participating in the Golympics event, which included lunch and an afternoon dance.
Carmichaels teachers Brittany McIntire and Melissa Christopher said their students love to visit with friends from other districts.
“For my students, the socialization and interacting is very difficult sometimes, so putting it into something fun like this makes it easier for them,” Christopher said.
Hamberger and Laura Walters, West Greene’s supervisor of special education, said several faculty members helped organize the event, including Tim Barnes, Melissa Ullom and Karlie Wright. Hamberger also said West Greene High School students involved in a peer-mentoring program helped set up and coordinate the activity stations.