Baldwinsville, North Syracuse to co-host Special Olympics Track & Field Event

The Baldwinsville Central School District is proud to announce an exciting partnership with the North Syracuse Central School District  to co-host this year’s Special Olympic Games.

For the first time ever, both districts will hold celebrations for athletes on the same day in order to allow additional athletes to participate in the popular event.

On Thursday, May 21, 2020, Special Olympics Track & Field Event will take place simultaneously at both Cicero-North Syracuse (C-NS) High School in Cicero and at C.W. Baker High School in Baldwinsville.

“The North Syracuse School District took over the Special Olympics from Liverpool years ago and has been hosting the Special Olympics for almost 20 years," said Fina Santangelo, one of the Special Olympics coordinators in the North Syracuse Central School District.   "We have just become too big for our facility with almost 1,000 athletes participating last year. We are excited to be co-hosting with our friends in Baldwinsville. By offering a second official location this year, it will give the athletes a better experience and their families will find it much easier to come out and support their Olympians.”

Students from the Baldwinsville, Liverpool, Marcellus and West Genesee school districts will participate in the event at Baker High School and students from Chittenango, Cortland, East Syracuse Minoa, Fayetteville-Manlius, Homer, Jamesville-DeWitt, Lyncourt, North Syracuse, OCM BOCES and Solvay will participate in the event at C-NS.

“We are very excited to partner with the North Syracuse Central School District this year and bring the Special Olympics to Baldwinsville,” Baldwinsville Director of Special Education Rocco Nalli said. “This is always such an amazing event for students and we feel we can make it even greater by splitting it between the two districts. We hope that by having the Special Olympics both in Baldwinsville and North Syracuse we will be able to have even more opportunities for family engagement and provide more individual attention and recognition of the athletes. It is truly an honor to be able to hold such an incredible event here in our district.”

Students will begin arriving at the schools at about 9:30 a.m. with a Parade of Athletes taking place to kick off the day's events, followed by athletic competitions until about 1:30 p.m. The rain date for the event is Thursday, May 28.

Everyone is welcome to attend this fun-filled day. Special Olympics games promote fitness, coordination and cardiovascular improvement. Additional benefits include self-confidence, discipline and self-esteem.

Please come and cheer on the athletes!