WATERVILLE, MAINE, January 2019 — Thomas College students are coming together to host a Unified Basketball Tournament for Maine high school teams on January 19, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Thomas College’s Mahoney Gymnasium in Waterville.
The public is encouraged to attend. Cost for admission is $3 for adults and $2 for students/senior citizens. All proceeds will be donated to Special Olympics Maine.
Schools from all over the state are participating in the tournament. They include: Portland/Deering, Winslow, Massabesic, Leavitt, Morse, Winthrop, Hampden, Carrabec, Mount View, and Grey/ New Gloucester.
About thirty Thomas College students are volunteering for the tournament throughout the day. They will be assisting with game operations, concessions, and raffles.
Thomas College senior and Special Olympics Club President Cassie Contigiani is the lead organizer of the event, and was the founder of the Special Olympics Club, hosting the first Unified Basketball Tournament at Thomas College last year. She loves this cause.
“It was such a big hit last year that we couldn’t not do it again this year but better than before,” said Contigiani. “Unified sports has had a major impact on my personal life and how I perceive the sports world. It opened my eyes to a game that student athletes with and without an intellectual disability are able to participate in. Growing up as a competitive athlete I’ve been taught that somebody will win and somebody will lose. However, in Unified, it’s who’s having the most fun. Creating an opportunity for the athletes to enjoy a day of games that I personally got to take for granted over the years is something that means everything.”
About Thomas College: Celebrating its 125th anniversary, Thomas College offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in programs ranging from business, entrepreneurship, and technology, to education, criminal justice, and psychology. Its Guaranteed Job Program, the first of its kind in the nation, is built on students’ academic, career, and leadership preparation. Thomas is also home to the Harold Alfond Institute for Business Innovation and the Center for Innovation in Education. In 2017, Money Magazine ranked Thomas 23rd of all colleges and universities in the country for adding the most value to their degrees, and data reported by the New York Times ranks Thomas in the top 15 percent of all higher education institutions in the U.S. for upward mobility of its graduates. For more information, visit wwwold.thomas.edu or MacKenzie Riley Young at pr@thomas.edu or 207-859-1313.