Students Give Back With Special Olympics

At least 135 Weston High School student volunteers spent their recent Saturday morning helping out with a Special Olympics qualifying event, for a major project set out by the Class of 2011.

Parent coordinator Sharon Buenaventura said the event, which was a qualifying basketball tournament for male and female players ages 22 and over, was a success.

“It went very well,” she said.

Weston has hosted this event since the early 2000s, with the Class of 2008 sponsoring the tournament during their years in school. It’s one of four events in the area, with the other locations at Rivers Conservatory in Weston, Babson College in Wellesley and Milton Academy in Milton.

Players play in the middle and high school gyms, with four courts going at all times.

Four years ago, when the ’08 class graduated, it handed it off to this year’s graduating class, said Buenaventura.

“The seniors have really stepped up and taken ownership,” she said.

The students are involved in all aspects of planning, from chairing committees dedicated to food, decoration or logistics, to gathering fellow volunteers to designing t-shirts and decorating the gym, said Buenaventura.

Parent volunteers help with fundraising and getting sponsors, but the majority of the work is done by the students, she said.

The volunteers serve a pizza lunch to the players, which is funded from direct cash donations called “Pizza Dough-nations,” said Buenaventura.

Major sponsors include Cambridge Trust Bank, Roche Bros., the Village Bank, Omni Foods, Donelan’s and BJ’s.

“It’s just an amazing event for these students to pull off,” said Buenaventura, who added it’s been a rewarding experience to watch the seniors grow into their leadership roles over the last four years.

The Class of 2014 will take over next year and shadowed the seniors this year to get a sense of what the duties entail.

Buenaventura said she received many compliments from players, families and coaches about how well-run the tournament was. Each team is assigned two to three student volunteers who act as hosts and stay with the teams throughout the day, attending to their needs and cheering them on from the sidelines with homemade signs.

See more pictures from this event in our .