By Leah Crisman, executive editor
An hour before Consol even opened its doors to students, 22 members of Interact club took their seats on the bus that would take them to Texas A&M’s natatorium on Oct. 11. For the next five hours, they helped run the Special Olympics Fall Classic swimming competition and awards ceremony.
The Special Olympics Fall Classic is an annual event for Interact Club, but according to Interact co-president Alona Weimer, this year was especially successful.
“We had a really large turnout of Interact students that wanted to go to Special Olympics this year,” Weimer said. “I think that helped [the Special Olympics event coordinators] a lot.”
The volunteers were divided into several groups upon arrival at the recreational center: one group to help the athletes find the correct seats, another to hand out awards at the awards ceremony and the third and largest group to time the swimming competitions and direct the athletes in and out of the water.
In addition to keeping the swimming events running smoothly, Interact volunteers got acquainted with athletes before their events and cheered them on while they were swimming.
“I was really impressed with the volunteerism this year,” senior Interact officer Kiara Hays said. “I felt like we really contributed to Special Olympics.”
