Lebo Legacy Games rolls up a winner
As a cheerleader, Ally Barrett regularly applauds accomplishments of athletes. Recently, it was the entire Mt. Lebanon student body that clapped enthusiastically for the senior as she propelled the Jingle Bells to victory over the Thunder during the inaugural Lebo Legacy Games.
“There was a lot of pressure on me,” Barrett admitted. “We were up by two and that was kind of the make-or-break throw of the game.
“It was the same kind of atmosphere of cheering but everyone was watching me,” she stressed. “It was really exciting, everyone cheering us on but still just a lot of pressure.”
The onus of success for the first-time activity, however, rested squarely on the shoulders of C.J. Korowicki and Teba Latef. The seniors are boosters for the special needs community within the school district. They came up with the idea for the Lebo Legacy Games after attending a special education summit last summer.
Korowicki, who doubles as the unofficial director of operations for the Mt. Lebanon football team and girls’ basketball manager, started working with special education students when he was in the sixth grade.
“Working with special education students is a passion of mine,” Korowicki said. “They are a group that you can never get tired of. They are always happy.”
Latef’s interest arose when she joined Lebo Stars. The school club combines together friends with and without disabilities. Her 15-minute visits to Shannon Nass and Adam Vicek’s classrooms turned into full study halls and lunches every day with the special needs students.
A pre-med major who will attend the University of Pittsburgh next fall, Latef hopes to become a developmental pediatrician and apply her love of science to research to advance what she dubbed as “amazing” students.
“I see first-hand how extraordinary these kids are and with my love of science, maybe I can find a cure or at the very least improve their quality of life in any way possible.”
At the summer summit, Korowicki and Latef saw how different schools sponsored “spirit” activities that encouraged participation for special needs students. They knew that Mt. Lebanon was “a little behind” in that realm so they crafted ideas to see what the best community or school event could incorporate ideas they picked up at the seminar.
“The idea was to include everyone and make them the star of the show,” said Latef.
Latef recalled attending last year’s Spirit Assembly. Held on the last day before winter break, the rally featured the school divided by elementary schools competing against each other in different events such as dodgeball, relay races and foul-shooting contests.
“When we went my junior year, we were pushed back in the bleachers and we were not as inclusive as we wanted it to be. So surely other kids felt out of place because it only catered to a set group of people,” she said.
“I saw how amazing these kids were and how extraordinary their abilities were and I felt really sad that they were not able to participate in school spirit and I love school spirit,” said Latef, who sported blue paint for science on her face. “I wanted them to be involved and share the fun with them.
“So we decided to create games in which you could participate with your friends, groups, lunch tables, clubs like Science Olympiad vs. Model UN or boys vs girls swim team. If you don’t have a group just get together with friends and call yourself the Jingle Bells.”
Some 42 teams signed up for the Lebo Legacy Games, which are designed to become a tradition for the school. The bocce tournament aims to leave a lasting legacy for the students and staff while fostering a sense of inclusivity and fun with the school community.
“Initially we thought of soccer because it’s a Special Olympics sport but then we came across bocce because everybody can play it,” Korowicki explained. “It’s a unified sport, meaning special education students can play it. The biggest goal in creating this event was we wanted to make sure special education students would have a place.”
Mt. Lebanon’s unified bocce team, which competes in the WPIAL, actually did make noise in the tournament. They won two rounds before being eliminated in the Elite Eight round, losing by one point.
“They were rolling. Doing great,” Korowicki said.
“They had a lot of practice under their belt but with bocce, you never know,” Latef said. “A too hard throw can knock you out. But it was great seeing everyone having fun and not taking it too seriously.”
Central Administration workers put together a team called the Suits. Lebo Stars entered the tournament. The runner-up Thunder was inclusive, too, featuring special needs students.
“We wanted to make sure that every student that was in the special classes who wanted to play, had a team and got into the bracket. Some did not want to but at least they had a choice,” Latef said.
“This wasn’t just for one group of people. We wanted everyone to play and compete. We wanted a shift in attitude and tone of inclusivity for years moving forward.”
As Barrett and her teammates, which also included Abby Baer, Tessa Peer, Athena Renton, Shea McCarthy and sisters Riley and Peyton Collins, hoisted their championship trophies in the air and flashed the No. 1 sign, their classmates gave the event two-thumbs up.
Ezra Heidenreich said the bocce tournament was a lot better than the Spirit Assembly because it was easier than the other more difficult activities featured in previous years. The senior played on a squad with many of his football friends. The team lost in the first round of action.
“We had high hopes of going all the way,” said Heidenreich, who hopes to play football at Case-Western or Allegheny College while studying computer science. “It was disappointing we didn’t make it very far, but this was a good time.
“This event brought more people into it because bocce is a game everyone knows, can play or learn how to play. It’s pretty simple,” Heidenreich continued. “Everybody can participate and you really don’t know who is going to win because it’s more luck than a skill game. That anyone can win is a good thing. It gives people an opportunity to be more in the spotlight.”
Treated as any other athletic competition, the tournament thrust ordinary students into the spotlight and treated them like superstars with walk-up songs and line-up announcements. The National Anthem was also sung but with students with limited musical background, allowing seniors like Sam Asbury and Matt Manning an opportunity to shine.
“We felt like the whole point of the bocce tournament was inclusivity and we thought it would be better to bring the school together if people that weren’t singers go out and do things like this,” said Asbury, who doubles as the Blue Devil mascot at athletic events as well as a girls’ basketball manager.
“We have wanted to sing the anthem for so long and the superintendent approved it. For this event, we felt it was important and it being the first time, also, bringing the whole school together,” he continued. “Everybody had an equal opportunity to go out and show what they could do.”
Manning, like Asbury, was “nervous” yet excited about his first public singing appearance. He said there was nowhere better to make a debut. He was thrilled with the inclusivity of the event.
“It’s about school spirit and bringing the school together,” he said. “It’s about bringing awareness to kids with special needs and just being able to bring them together and have them very involved in school. It’s very important to us.”
Superintendent Melissa Friez agreed.
“It’s based around the inclusionary model of allowing our students that have additional needs to be with our typical students to enjoy the day and come together to have good school spirit,” she said. “It was amazing. A good time,” she added. “There can’t be anything better than happy kids and adults. They enjoyed it too,” she added.
Barrett and her teammates were thrilled the most.
“The event was organized really well. Everything went super smoothly and everyone had a lot of fun,” she said while clutching her trophy.