LAUDERDALE COUNTY, Miss. (Queen City Newsfeed) – Special needs students from across the Northeast school community spent Thursday morning competing in games, cheering for one another and celebrating their achievements during the annual Trojan Games at Northeast High School.
The event, organized by cadets in the school’s Navy Junior ROTC program, took place March 5 on the Northeast High School football field. About 70 students from Northeast High School and Northeast Middle School participated in the Special Olympics-style event, which began at 10 a.m. and was scheduled to wrap up at 2 p.m.
Students ranging from fifth grade through high school seniors rotated through a variety of activities, including volleyball, basketball, a football toss, inflatable bowling, wiffle ball, soccer, bean bag toss and sack races. All volunteers helping run the games were high school students.
Commander Chad West, senior naval science instructor for the Navy Jr. ROTC program at Northeast High School, said the goal of the event is to give students with special needs an opportunity to participate in organized games and feel recognized by their peers.
“Our goal is for them to feel like they are important,” West said. “Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond their control, they aren’t able to participate in Little League or other sports, so we just wanted to give them a chance to have a day where they could be involved in something — get a chance to be outside, be around other students.”
At the end of the day, organizers planned a closing ceremony and kickball game where each participant would receive a medal as their name is called.
“We just want them to feel like they are somebody important,” West said.
The Trojan Games are now in their third year. West said organizers hope to grow the event in the future, possibly expanding participation to special needs students across the Lauderdale County School District.
“You know, we’d love for the games to continue to expand,” West said. “It’s fairly expensive to pull off something like this, but our vision would be to do it for all the special needs students within the Lauderdale County School District. But we need a lot more funding if we’re going to be able to do something like that.”
West also emphasized the importance of community involvement and service.
“It’s important to give back to your community, right? And to be grateful for the blessing that we are given for our abilities and the things that God has poured out on us,” he said.
Community members interested in supporting the event can contact Northeast High School. West said the school’s booster club helps manage and raise funds for the games.
“They are the people that handle the finances for us and help us to pull off this sort of stuff,” West said. “We’d be most grateful for anybody that wants to contribute in any way.”
For student volunteers, the event is also about encouraging their peers.
“It gives them encouragement and also allows them to have fun,” said Kaylie Lam, a 10th grader at Northeast High School and a Petty Officer in the school’s ROTC program who volunteered at the games.
