Senior Elle Pickleman’s passion for supporting kids with disabilities started long before she led the Special Olympics club.

Pickleman’s involvement in the special needs community started with being a peer tutor in middle school. This led to her becoming highly involved in Best Buddies club in highschool, and eventually ascending to the position of President of the Special Olympics club.

“Mr. Peterson noticed how involved I was, and asked me if I wanted to be the president my junior year,” Pickleman said. “It was a really exciting opportunity.”

The Special Olympics Club has high involvement because of its inclusivity, supportive environment, and high energy. The mission of the Special Olympics club is to create an inclusive environment for where students with intellectual and physical disabilities can play and compete in sports.

Pickleman says she thoroughly enjoys being president because of the meaningful friendships and lessons both the “coaches” and “players” get to learn, such as the importance of teamwork, communication, and engagement.

“It’s a lot of fun to see the impact that it has and the memories that you can create with everyone,” Pickleman said.

The Special Olympics has a “season” for each sport the players participate in and each season lasts about a month. Practices are held once a week and there is usually one tournament a month. 

In the end of October and beginning of November the club was in the bowling season, followed by various other sports such as basketball, soccer, and bocce ball throughout the year. The club competes against various other schools with Special Olympics chapters.

“My favorite part of being in the club is going to the tournaments up in Richardson or Plano and just actually seeing them play one of the sports,” club vice president Piper Heath said.

Heath’s love for kids with disabilities motivated her to join the Special Olympics club, and she says feels lucky to be a part of a club with a supportive community where everyone can come together.

“I have always enjoyed inviting people and [my role] entails me getting others to join and making the club as much fun as possible,” Heath said.

Heath stresses the importance of inclusivity in the club and making sure people are always welcome.

“[We] invite as many people as possible who are interested in the club, and [for others]  knowing that there is a club that supports kids with disabilities playing sports, I was all for that, and ever since then I’ve been in it,” Heath said.

The welcoming and compassionate nature of the club is exemplified through the club officers and members. Club Treasurer Anna-Katherine Goldman emphasizes the importance of servanthood while in the club.

“It’s definitely one of those clubs where it’s not about you, and you have to take time out of your day to go spend time with the athletes because it is important to them,” Goldman said. “It’s helped me be more selfless.”

Throughout the year, Goldman is in charge of finances in the club, which includes collecting fees and organizing fundraisers, the largest of which involves selling T-shirts for the Buddy Bowl in the spring. 

“I help with the club fees, if we need to raise money for an event or the club in general, I make sure everyone has paid and remind people to pay,” Goldman said.

Goldman highlights that the HP chapter of the Special Olympics club is highly more involved with its players than chapters at different schools.

“I feel like there’s always something going on, [and we] usually have stuff on the weekends,” Goldman said.

The club’s biggest goal for this year is to increase attendance and engagement at tournaments.

“We want to get more people involved, especially at tournaments [we want] a lot of the students to come out and support [the athletes]” Pickleman said.

Pickleman specifically emphasizes the importance of attendance at the basketball tournament in the spring. The athletes practice a lot for the basketball tournament, and it is very special to them because it is a home game where they can count on the most people in the community to come to support them.

“Showing up for them and wanting to hang out with them is a big thing,” Pickleman said.

The Special Olympics club has created an inclusive atmosphere at school where students with disabilities can play sports they did not typically get to play, while allowing them to be themselves.

“The goal was to create an environment where students can help athletes play sports and grow closer with people,” Pickleman said. “And as a club, I really feel like we’ve succeeded in that.”