Junior Enrichment Highlights from the 2009 Experiences

2009 Special Olympics of North Carolina Summer Games

My junior enrichment experience was one that I loved. I went to Special Olympics in Raleigh. I had a negative attitude the whole way there and at the start, but as things got going I quickly changed my mind. I am not one that has ever been exposed to children or adults that were in the Special Olympics, but just meeting these athletes can put a smile on anyone’s face and change your life. I was specifically involved in the aquatics center and would not change it for the world. I was able to get a lot of one on one time with the athletes and find out about their personalities, personal lives and talents in the Olympics. I was amazed at what all they were capable of doing and just the overall love for life they had. I enjoyed so much being able to listen to the athletes I now call, my friends, crack jokes or give you a big, wet hug after finishing their race. It truly was a unique and surprisingly gratifying experience that I would suggest everyone sign up for.
 -   submitted by Jennifer Bumgardner, Western Carolina University Teaching Fellow

Junior Enrichment was nothing I thought it would be. You would think by my junior year I would stop having low expectations for the teaching fellows required events. I was not looking forward to giving teaching fellows a weekend of my precious summer, but it turned out to be one of the greatest experiences of my life. I plan on going back next year.   I chose to work the Special Olympics, and I was in the aquatics section. The athletics were so amazing and over half of them swam better than I could ever dream of swimming. They were so excited of what they had accomplished which made me even more excited about watching them swim and cheering them on.  Out of the entire event though, I enjoyed the dance. It was so fun watching the athletics relax, unwind, and let loose. They look forward all year to coming to the Special Olympics and being able to see all their friends. Watching them and dancing with them was a moment I will cherish for the rest of my life.   Not one moment of this event was boring, from the time the athletics checked-in till the last award was announced Sunday, I was having a ball hanging out with some of the coolest people that I have ever met.
- submitted by Jamie Laura Brantley, Meredith CollegeTeaching Fellow