HELENA — About 50 Carroll students, 6 Special Olympics Montana Tri-County Area athletes, and unified partners gathered in the spirit of awareness and acceptance during the Carroll College Special Olympics Club’s 5th Annual Down Syndrome Awareness Walk.
Attendees marched nearly a mile around Carroll's campus ahead of World Down Syndrome Awareness Day, which is celebrated annually on Mar. 21.
Maddie Visser, the President of the Carroll College Special Olympics club, told MTN about the importance of Down Syndrome awareness events and initiatives like the walk.
“Inviting the community to celebrate people with Down syndrome is a huge step towards inclusion, seeing them as people who can be friends, teammates, classmates, and athletes, just like everyone else.”
The walk has grown since its inception.
“To hang out and get together and be outside, the club organized its first Down Syndrome Awareness Day Walk in 2020, and it's just been a tradition that we've held ever since then; we have three athletes on our team that have Down syndrome, so we are celebrating today,” said Visser.
“Over the past 5 years, we've done the Down Syndrome Awareness Day Walk. I've seen it grow from seven people and an athlete to over 40 people and eight athletes."
Special Olympics Montana awarded the Carroll Special Olympics Club an award in 2025 for its work.
“Carroll College was nominated and elected as the unified champion School of the Year for the year 2025, and it's because of events like the Down Syndrome Awareness Day Walk. We also just invite the community to join with us at all our events. We do a lot of fun things. We are getting into state games in May. So I just would say thank you to all of the people who have supported us, to the families and to the athletes, just for being incredible and for sharing their time and their smiles with us," added Visser.
The honor is awarded yearly to a K-12 or college-level Unified Champion School that effectively and successfully embraces Unified Sports, inclusive youth leadership, and whole school engagement.
For athletes, this event and unified sports provide a huge resource.
“You get to go out there and have fun but also be a part of something great. You get to make new friends, meet people you would never make friends with, and get the opportunity to participate in sports you wouldn't have otherwise,” said Special Olympics athlete Gracie Gibbons.
The walk creates community awareness and acceptance of all abilities, one step at a time.
