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KINGSTON — You could catch smiles and heartfelt stories from any of some 700 students Thursday, but Mikey Ash said and showed it all early and often: Unable to ride a bicycle since suffering a stroke nearly three years ago, he got a brand new, specially equipped trike and, sporting a bike helmet with a faux Mohawk haircut, rode into childhood anew.
“He didn’t want to get off it,” mom Nicole beamed after Mikey, 14, joined nine other special needs students to receive specially-designed trikes provided through charitable donations before the official start of the annual Field Day staged by the Luzerne Intermediate Unit at the Wyoming Valley West stadium.“He kept riding it up and down the street.”
The day, as always, belonged to children from Luzerne and Wyoming counties. The LIU provides a variety of services to area schools, but special education is primary, and Field Day is the pinnacle, bringing together hundreds of students, members of their families, and scores of volunteers.
“It truly is a community event,” LIU Executive Director Tony Grieco said during a brief break in helping hand out free pizza, hot dogs, chips and drinks.
The day gets broad support from contributors. Grieco had a list of 19, but noted there are others who help out in less official capacities. This year, he added, there were also those who helped obtain the 10 tricycles students got for the first time before they rode them in the opening ceremony procession. The seven-year-old Variety charity spearheads the “My Bike” Program, providing matching funds to those raised locally. Variety was represented Thursday morning, as were several prominent contributors to the new bikes, including Geisinger, Pride Mobility and Allied Health Services.
Around the football field and peppered throughout the neighboring baseball and multipurpose fields, students took turns running dashes, trying long jumps, swinging mallets, billowing a colorful parachute, pitching balls and having a blast.
Field Day evolved from earlier efforts to stage the more formal regional competition for the Special Olympics. In 2007 the LIU opted to drop the affiliation and make the event more inclusive, free of timing requirements and more formal awards. Yet Thursday’s iteration kept a bit of that history alive by featuring remarks from Dorrance Township’s Aaron Keller, who won a gold and two silver medals at the Special Olympics in the United Arab Emirates.
But these days groups of students get to saunter over to any event available, false starts are reasons to smile rather than line up again, and if someone shouts — as happened often — “Can we do it again?” the answer is almost always yes.
Oh, and there are ribbons for everyone, every time.
Nicole said Mikey with the Mohawk helmet had been participating for years even before his stroke, and gave the reason so many keep coming to revel in Field Day.
“Look at all the smiles,” She said. “They don’t lie. It’s sheer joy.”
