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Special Olympics Civility Paper
Connor Latteyer
March 6th, 2016 I helped volunteer at the Special Olympics, and it was more
than just an amazing experience. I went into this hoping it to be just like the other times
that I volunteer, feeling like you made a difference in someone’s life; also learning from,
and just meeting new and amazing people. I hoped that I could help make a difference
in this event, and help it run more smoothly for the sake of the athletes. I expected it to
be just like a regular event, nothing super exciting would happen, and we would be
done soon, boy was I wrong. This event was everything I hoped it would be and so
much more.
I went into this expecting it to be, and feel like all the other times that I volunteer.
Seeing the looks of gratitude on the peoples faces that you are helping, and just the
feeling of helping make someone's life better. The Special Olympics was that and so
much more, just from seeing all the athletes faces when they were walking around the
track being announced; it reminded me of when I competed in sports. It reminded me of
all the time, effort, and dedication I put into my sport, and the pride I felt when I was
competing. This event is everything for them, and seeing the pride in their faces, it
brought a tear to my eye and i'm not ashamed to admit it. The absolute happiness, and
pride they had when they won in their event, or just getting cheered for when competing
was just beyond awesome to be a part of.

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We volunteered at the Special Olympics as a class, to try to learn about civility
and connect this event to our definitions of civility. My personal definition was, speaking
and treating others with respect. And being in this environment, I really saw what it
meant to be civil. The athletes being civil to us, and everyone being civil to the athletes,
and everyone being respectful to everyone else, and coming together for the athletes on
their day. To me this event helped to show me what it really means to be civil, and to
have true civility.
Working this event was absolutely a life changing experience. After the event it
really hit me hard, just thinking about how doing something as small as measuring how
far an athlete jumped in their even can really mean something to them, and affect their
life. I think that volunteering an event like this was the perfect way to help us define
civility, and personally I would absolutely recommend an event like this too everyone
that I know.