Students Celeste Ewing, age 19, Elke Klein, 15, and Austin Simonin, 15, will represent Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) in a Special Olympics Massachusetts (SOMA) Cape and Islands competition in Mashpee on May 28.
Physical education teacher Lisa Knight and life skills teacher Laura DeBettencourt, who have been helping the students prepare for the event, introduced them to the MVRHS school committee at a meeting on May 3. They also showed a video of the three athletes in training, filmed and produced by Anne Lemenager, MVRHS physical education department head.
Celeste, Elke, and Austin have been practicing for the competition’s 10 events since the beginning of the school year last fall, Ms. DeBettencourt said in a phone call this week. More than 200 athletes representing 20 schools will compete, she noted.
The three athletes and their teachers, parents, and siblings will travel to the SOMA Cape Cod School Day Games at Mashpee High School on a fan bus on the 7 am ferry May 28. The competition begins at 9:30 am and ends with a closing ceremony at 1 pm. The event will be moved indoors if it rains.
