The 19 and 20 of July, 1968 marked the beginning of a monumental movement that would change the world’s perspective on mental disabilities. It started with a woman helping a boy in a pool.

Eunice Shriver is the woman who created the idea of the Special Olympics. The Special Olympics are a global movement of people creating a new world of inclusion and community.

Shriver, the owner of Camp Shriver summer camps, recognized the unjust treatment of people with mental disabilities.

For decades she continued to use her camps as the forerunner of the Special Olympics.

In 1968, the first International Special Olympics Summer Games were held at Soldier Field in Chicago, IL.

According to the Special Olympics Organization’s website, over 1,000 people with disabilities from 26 U.S. states and Canada competed in track and field and swimming events. Since it’s founding, the events held at the Special Olympics have expanded to sports like flag football and basketball.

Eighteen years later, the United Nations launched the International Year of Special Olympics, with the theme “Special Olympics — Uniting the World.”

The Special Olympics Unified Sports program was launched in July of 1988. This program has spread across the country and into the public schools of the United States.

The philosophy of the Special Olympics, specifically in Minnesota, is that it is “founded on the belief that people with intellectual disabilities can, with proper instruction and encouragement, learn, enjoy and benefit from participation in individual and team sports,” according to the Special Olympics website.

Accompanying that belief, the program targets celebrating the abilities of these athletes, not their disabilities.

Since there was nothing like it at Orono, guidance counselor Katie Dorn believed that extending the Special Olympics program to the school district would “break down barriers” created by the student body.

Dorn has been the base of this program and the connecting piece for the school.

Orono adopted the Unified Sports program in 2012, when students in the Calculus BC class were interested in raising money for a good cause.

The coordinators of the program are Dorn and OHS math teacher Michelle Swenson. If interested in contributing to this program, contact either of these two advisers.

“Anybody can be a part of it, as long as they come to practice, tournaments, and socialize with the kids,” Swenson said.

“The fun part is that I have planted the seed, and now teachers and students’ families are all really involved. It is taking on a life of its own and it is here to stay,” she said.