Let Me Win, But if I Cannot Win, Let Me be Brave in the Attempt: Special Olympics Bowling 2013

Saturday we bowled.

Ok, so we didn't bowl, we didn't wear goofy rented shoes or score gutterballs. We did something much, much better. Early on Saturday we, and by we I mean the L4L members and some other enthusiastic volunteers from UIS, loaded up a bus and headed out into Springfield to volunteer for Special Olympics Bowling, and it was fantastic. Not only was the experience itself great, but it also reminded us of something right off the bat.

It's not always about winning.

Ok, so to some people it is, but really it isn't. The slogan of the Special Olympics is "let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt." And it is a fantastic reminder, for everyone. Yes, try to win, do your absolute best, but in the end it is the attempt that matters and the memories and all the other things you get in the process.

Kristin giving out the gold metal.

And if that is the case, then I think our volunteers got just as much out of the event as the participants, event those who won the gold. For them it was an opportunity to catch a glimpse at the little things they take for granted and meet some amazing people they might not otherwise see or if they did that they might not take the time to really meet. 

"For me the most touching experience of the whole day was when one of the participants came up to me and hugged me. She told me that she really liked me and hoped that I would come back and help her team next year. In my mind, that really showed me that I made a small impact in the world through my service, and that really touched my heart." 

-Martina '17

"In between frames I was able to talk to my team of bowlers and learned Tony liked to watch different shows on Netflix, Deb loves to bowl, and Janice likes the Cubs. Out of all the bowlers I think Janice and I had a connection. And after everyone was done bowling the team was awarded gold metals! That just goes to show how good they were! Even though the bowlers had some sort of disability they didn't let that stop them from going for the gold. As I said good-bye to my bowlers, Deb's mom thanked me for all of my help, and Janice and Deb both gave me a hug good-bye. That made all the difference in the world. All of the athletes that participated in the Special Olympics didn't allow challenge or disability to stop them from doing anything. This was truly an experience I will always remember." 

-Lizzy '17

Lizzy and Martina were not the only people to feel that way, everyone walked away with a story, a hug, something that really stuck with them. The bus ride back was filled with students bragging about the amazing scores their bowlers had, and just what made the experience so great.

"Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."

The athletes were brave. They came out to the bowling alley and threw everything they had into the game. They laughed, they cheered each other on, and had the time of their lives. While our volunteers showed up to help them I think they helped us. They showed us the sort of attitude we should bring into our own daily lives, to strive to win, to do our very best, but if we don't then at least we can say we tried, and that we put our all into something.

-Erika
UIS Vista

-Martina
UIS Class of 2017

-Lizzy
UIS Class of 2017

Leadership for Life Retreat 2013

Leadership for Life kicked off its academic year service projects with a retreat, welcoming in a group of freshmen who have dedicated themselves and the next year to service.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Leadership for Life (L4L for short), these students commit to 40hrs of service and take one class altogether while living in a living-learning community out of a wing of Lincoln Residence Hall. We also welcomed back our L4L directors, committee chairs, mentors, and members who have decided to dedicate themselves to a second, third, or even fourth year of service with L4L.

At 10am we loaded up two vans and a couple of cars and headed off campus to avoid the rush of the general move in day (the L4L freshmen were lucky enough to move in the day before and beat the rush), and headed off to the house one of the administrators owns on Lake Springfield.

Doesn't she look just heartbroken about being out of the office?

We started off the day with ice breakers, starting off with something easy that looks hard, and something hard that looked so easy. The first ice breaker was to get in a circle and sit on each others' lap and walk in a circle, team work and a lot of trust was key.

Then we moved on to something that sounded easy, but was hard as we attempted to stand on a tarp and flip it over without stepping on the grass. While we might not have gotten that one to work we had a lot of fun, got to in each others' personal space a bit more than we might have liked, and got to stretch our problem solving skills to the max.

But the highlight of the retreat day is always the build-a-boat contest. Every year Dr. Dochterman splits the L4L members into groups and gives each of them identical and random objects to try and build a boat out of. Prizes then goes to the fastest, the Titanic, best team spirit, and most creative.

Everyone's first thought? What are we supposed to do with this stuff?!

After the initial surprise that they have to somehow build a sea-worthy boat that will float one member of their team using only misc. materials wears off everyone gets down to work. This year they were given duct tape, two pieces of PVC pipe, a large box, a medium box, a long piece of wood, a pool floatie,  a length of string, some tarp, and a bucket. 

All of them were fantastic, however, we quickly found out that some

were more sea worthy than others...

Note: No Team Leader was Harmed/Drowned in the Race Process...

Yeah, the race was probably the highlight of the day! It was great to see what each team had managed to come up with, and cheer each other on as the group leaders took the chance to hop on board to see if their ship would swim or if they would be going down with it in true captain fashion. 

How better to end the day than just jumping right in?

All in all the L4L Retreat was a fantastic way to start out the year, a great way to meet the people we'll be working with, and a lot of fun. 

- Erika

  UIS Vista