Coosa County Schools participates in Special Olympics

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Special to the News

We are excited that Coosa County Schools is once again participating in the Special Olympics, and a special thank you to Central Elementary School special education teacher Nia Herridge for coordinating all the details that went into providing our students with this opportunity, as well as sharing the following information and photographs.

There are many people Mrs. Herridge would like to thank for making our participation in the Special Olympics possible. First, a warm thank you goes to our gracious host of the Special Olympics, Alexander City Schools. At the event, Central Elementary principal Kara Forbus and Special Education Coordinator Wanda Young presented a plaque and gift basket to Mrs. Lynn McVey, Special Olympics Organizer for Alexander City Schools. We are looking forward to more collaboration between Alexander City and Coosa County schools in the future.

Secondly, Mrs. Herridge would like to thank all the financial donors who made our participation possible, including Mr. Erik Carmack and his team at the A+Tire and Auto Repair in Birmingham and Mr. Leon Rosato, owner of Gilchrist restaurant in Mountain Brook, who made a donation in honor of his son.

In addition, Coosa County Schools received a grant from the Lake Mitchell Home Owners and Boat Owners Association; a generous donation from the Tau Rho Mu Christian Sorority Inc. members Anna Stewart, Martina Person, Melcinie Posey, Shatorya Jones, Jazmine Bedgood, and Brentina Williamson; and a donation from Walmart Supercenter in Sylacauga.

The Special Olympics participants were given the royal treatment, which included a pep rally with the Pride of Coosa County Band, Central cheerleaders and Cougars Dance Team, along with the Central Elementary School students who welcomed and encouraged the athletes with music, cheers and dances as they prepared for competition.

In addition, on the day of the event the Central cheerleaders motivated our participants with a Cougar Walk through the elementary school hallway, with students lining the sides of the hallway, cheering our athletes on as they headed to the buses to depart.

Thank you to Mrs. Worley’s Teachers in Training students who also traveled to the event and did a fantastic job as Peer Helpers. This group of students; which included Heavenly Thornton, Daisy Aguiar, Kyla Hicks, Elizabeth Clark, Luis Martinez, Ja’Von Peterson, Destini Kelley, Micah Parsons, Adrianna Walker, Tristan Gonzalez, Ruby Burks, and Miranda Coker; were great ambassadors of Central High School.

In addition, some of the Special Olympics athletics are also students from Central High School’s Inclusive Innovations Group who worked for weeks printing the team shirts participants wore for the event. Thank you to Mrs. Valerie Smith and Mrs. Tabitha Hyatt for overseeing the shirt project.

Most of all, we want to celebrate our 40 student athletes from both Central Elementary School and Central High School who participated in the 2025 Special Olympics, including Raymond Flores, Kane Vaughn, Aaron Wetlesen, McKinsley Wallace, Kai Pearson-Dowdell, Isaac Reams, Calvin Ware, Amy Grogan, Matthew Green, Chrix’Zavion Lykes-Edwards, Arabella Wetlesen, Boyd Allen, Victor Avilo Montano, Alexander Cowart, La’Kaiden Graham, Asher James, Bryson Jordan, Miranda Adams, Vanessa Gibson, Landreka Cook, Malakai Jackson, Kaden Merced, Jose Alfredo Ocana, Jose Ricardo Ocana, Haven Williams, Haiden Parris, Caleb Adair, Micha Penton, Dallas Ragsdale, Marcus Castleberry, Anna Grogan, Shyanne Ragsdale, James Duncan, Claudies Embry, TayQuavious Howard, Rafaella Mccollough, Alex Wells, Kayla Harris, and Skyla Proctor.

Mrs. Herridge added, “It was heartwarming to see how students from different abilities were hanging out and having fun together.  We sincerely hope that being able to participate in the Special Olympics 2025 helped to create an atmosphere of inclusion and understanding for all our students and in our community.”