Cheering hard!

The day started with our friends at the Special Olympics office in Manchester. We finished organizing and even helped build some fundraising signs. The most inspiring part of the morning came when Special Olympic althletes Courtney, Patti and Pam shared their stories and invovement within the organization. Pam talked about how her journey began with a fear of the phone, sensitivity to noise and tremendous shyness, but slowly evolved into a full time position as the receptionist at the Mancehster office where she answers the phone, interacts with new people and delegates tasks. Pam is now a gold medal winner and a Global embassador for Special Olympics. She travels around the world speaking in front of large audiences and advocating for individuals with disabilities. It was incredible to see how this organization empowers individuals and provides life skills that we are all still working to achieve.

Hailey, Pam and Patti are now facebook friends!
Making connections. Spidey and Mr Little
would be so proud! :)

The competition begins with Krista and
Lindsay's serious artistic talent.

Peirce and Patti. Is this closet organized yet!?

John and Patti's "fire" handshake.

Jakie Martel running the show. No surprises there.

We had to pull Spencer away from
building in order to eat lunch!

Cho and Ellie are all smiles all the time :)

After a break and some fried deliciousness, NHS Huskies travelled to Nashua for the semi finals of the Unified basketball tournament. It was a competitive and physical game with every athlete playing with passion and guts. The Huskies cheered, sang (so much singing), and made signs to show support.

Reflections of the day:

"Changing my mindset to look at our similarities, rather than our differences, made me realize how much we all have in common. I didn't feel like I "helped" Pam today, but instead we worked together and accomplished a lot."

-Jackie M.

"You could tell how proud the athletes are of their accomplishments. Heather carries her medals around with her and Courtney really lit up when she talked about the play she directed."

"You could tell the athletes wanted to make friends and were happy to talk to us and see us. They wanted to learn where we were from, about our families, and what sports we liked." 

-Elizabeth C.