Groups Sponsor Special Olympics Area Track Meet

The Mansfield ISD Athletics Department and the Mansfield ISD All Stars teamed up to sponsor the first invitational track meet for Special Olympics groups throughout the Greater Fort Worth Area.

The event was held on Saturday, April 2 at Timberview High School. Of the 113 competitors, 23 were Mansfield ISD students. Over 85 volunteer athletes from all four Mansfield ISD  high schools and several middle schools assisted by running with the competitors and offering encouragement. 

The event was also supported by Kirk Thor, MISD Assistant Athletic Director, Coach Mark Walker, Athletic Coordinator from Timberview High School and several other middle and high school coaches who helped make sure the event ran smoothly. 

The Special Olympics competitors and the Mansfield ISD volunteer athletes enjoyed the experience that allowed them to learn and be inspired by one another. 

Congratulations to the Mansfield ISD All Stars on a successful event!

The mission of the All Stars is to provide year-round sports training, education and athletic competition in a variety of sports for children with intellectual disabilities. The organization was started in 1986 by Harriet Kaker and Maurie James, with the help of Imogene Gideon and the MISD Director of Special Education at that time. The team has grown from having only six athletes and two coaches, to now having over 75 athletes and 20 coaches. 

If you are interested in volunteering with the Special Olympics or the Mansfield ISD All Stars, please contact Joan Hart, or visit the website.

Special education students open cafe inside Legacy High School

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of dining at the Cowbell Café inside Mansfield Legacy High School. The restaurant is the product of an innovative teaching grant written by teachers, Michelle Lutes and Jayme Schroeder. They received the $2,700 grant from the Mansfield ISD Education Foundation. The grant provided funds to purchase equipment and supplies to run a restaurant/café inside the high school.

That in and of itself is a pretty interesting thing for a school. (Just ask the Culinary Arts team at Ben Barber Career Tech that run Savvy's Bistro which opened in 2006.)

However, what makes this dining experience so unique is that it is through the combined efforts of Legacy special needs students.

According to the grant, students benefit by "gaining food service experience and skills that will lead to future job placement, as well as, reinforce their every day living skills."

Michelle Lutes said they held Cowbell Café job interviews to determine functions from the hosts, servers, kitchen staff, napkin rollers and more all the way through the mini-restaurant roles, each student had a part.

The food was tasty (we had salad, lasagna, plus dessert) and the service was exceptional. The plan is to have seatings on a regular basis each month during the school year.

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The name, Cowbell Café, is a Texas-sized hat tip to the Kowbell Arena which was the world's first indoor rodeo arena. The Kowbell Arena, which is where the Legacy band hall, performing arts center and journalism room are now located, was demolished to make way for the high school.