QO Students Take 'Plunge' For Special Olympics

With temperatures set to be in the mid-50s and a possibility of rain, today doesn't scream beach weather. But that won't stop a group of 30-plus Quince Orchard students who will head north to take a plunge in the Chesapeake Bay.

Participating in the Cool School Challenge’s Frigid Friday Plunge, the group of students and faculty members joins many others from the state of Maryland on the beach at Sandy Point State Park where they’ll rush the freezing Bay water together.

The event is part of the 16th annual Maryland State Police Polar Bear Plunge, which raises money for the Special Olympics.

team – which combines students from the school’s Student Government Association and Best Buddies program – has raised over $4,500 for the event, exceeding their goal of $3,000, SGA faculty sponsor Karen Jones said.

“We’ve been trying really as a whole to try to increase charitable acts and donations and looking for different kinds of activities to partner up [with],” Jones said.

Although this is QO’s first year participating in the Cool School Challenge, it’s not the first time they’ve tried. The school was set to send a group to last year’s event before a snow day canceled the trip, Jones said.

By partnering the SGA with Best Buddies — an international volunteer program that pairs QO students with special needs students to form one on one friendships and relationships — Jones was able to recruit more students to participate, she said.

Grace Toohey, Quince Orchard’s Best Buddies president, said she’s excited to finally make the trip after getting snowed out last year. The senior has been a member of the Best Buddies program throughout her entire high school career.

“It’s probably the best experience that I’ve had in high school,” Toohey said. “It’s really so much fun… they’re mutually enriching friendships but you really get to know a person for the person for they are and try to look past their disability.”

Many of the special needs students in QO’s Best Buddies program participate in the school’s corollary athletics program as well. These teams — track and field in the fall, Bocce Ball in the winter, and softball in the spring — have a 50-50 split of players with and without special needs.

The county’s corollary athletics programs partner with the Special Olympics, giving this event special meaning for those who share the experience at QO.

Special needs Bocce Ball player and Buddy Director Lydia Vreeland will be one of three special needs students joining her classmates at the Bay. While she won’t be getting in the water, Vreeland will go to support a program that she said has meant the world to her.

“[Best Buddies] has changed my life,” she said. “I feel more confident about best buddies and myself. I can speak to people like Grace and make sure everyone has a good time.”

While she gets to stay dry, Toohey and Jones each have their own reservations about plunging into the chilly January Chesapeake. 

“[I’m] not really looking forward to the cold," Toohey said with a groan, "but I think it will be a really, really unique experience, especially being surrounded by so many people who are interested in doing this."

And Jones added, “I think because we’ve been so excited about it, it wasn’t until yesterday when I was thinking, ‘Oh my god.' It set in for me, and as the adult I kind of feel like I cant chicken out and not go in.”