The Special Olympics College Club at ¶À¼ÒºÚÁÏ held its first meeting of the semester. The new club hopes to create community partnerships through pairing the college’s and community’s Special Olympians.
This community outreach will help with the club’s goal of promoting active participation with athletes, current students, and faculty.
At the meeting, club president Austin Fellman '27 explained what he expected from club members including athlete interaction, leadership, community connections, and professional development.
“I started a Special Olympics College Club at ¶À¼ÒºÚÁÏ so that adult athletes can live a unified life after high school or experience it for the first time,” he said.
Students across majors were in attendance, some with years of experience in Special Olympics through their high schools or sports teams and some with no exposure at all.
According to the , these college programs are meant to connect young adults with and without intellectual disabilities through shared experiences, leading the social inclusion movement together.
Fellman first got involved with Special Olympics in his hometown of Thief River Falls after taking the polar plunge. He then applied for the board of student directors for the Minnesota chapter and worked his way up to becoming a .
“While serving my two-year term, I attended and spoke at numerous conferences nationally and statewide and traveled the country to spread the message of the Special Olympics,” he said. “Some trips included going to New Mexico, Washington, D.C., and Georgia.”
Fellman hopes to train club members and Special Olympians in soccer, track and field, bowling, volleyball, bocce ball, pickleball, basketball, and swimming.
Meetings will be held every other week with practices in between. Fellman is working on getting Special Olympians to join the club now that it has been established.
“It (Special Olympics) gave me a grander focus and respect for people with disabilities,” he said. “I started to participate in classrooms across my school district, giving them (students with disabilities) opportunities to be in the classroom more rather than being isolated in segregated classrooms.”
Students interested in joining can find more information on the group's .
Written by Alyssa Czernek '25