LPS students go the extra mile at special track camp

Jenna Rogers wants everyone to experience the soaring feeling she gets each time she flies over the high jump bar.
 
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln track and field star helped local students have those same types of joyful moments through a special mini-camp.
 
Rogers and her UNL teammates hosted the Everybody Plays mini-camp for Lincoln Public Schools students. The final event of the four-week program took place Nov. 15 at Bob Devaney Sports Center’s indoor track and field complex.
 
LPS elementary students with disabilities and their siblings created many memories throughout the mini-camp. Rogers said she was thrilled to help them have those special moments on the UNL campus.
 
“My favorite thing about this camp is being able to build relationships with the kids,” Rogers said. “It’s awesome. It’s such a good feeling to see everyone happy when they’re here.”
 
Daphne, a fifth-grade student at Morley Elementary School, beamed as she finished her turn leaping in the long jump. She said she has become good friends with Rogers and other UNL athletes. Rogers later watched with pride as Daphne threw plastic balls for the shot put and ran in a shuttle-hurdle relay race.
 
“I like how they’re teaching everyone to be really nice,” Daphne said. “It’s really fun for everyone.”
 
Rogers, a junior at UNL, wanted to make sure her time in Lincoln included just as much success away from the track as on it. The Rutherford, N.J., native won the Big Ten Conference high jump title during last spring’s outdoor season. She said her family’s connections with disabilities inspired her to launch the mini-camp in 2022.
 
“I have two cousins who have autism, so this is something that means a lot to me,” said Rogers, who is a two-time All-Big Ten Academic Team member. “I knew when I got here I wanted to do something to help other people, and I thought this would be a good way to do that.”
 
Cindy Brunken, a special education team leader and speech-language pathologist at LPS, said she was immediately interested when she learned about the possibility for the mini-camp. The LPS Special Education Department and the life skills program in the UNL Athletic Department have had a Ventures In Partnership (VIP) relationship for more than 35 years.
 
Tom Osborne worked closely with VIP programs in his former roles as UNL athletics director and head football coach. Osborne expected UNL athletes to give back to others through initiatives like School is Cool, American Education Week and Link N’ Leaders. Brunken said the Everybody Plays mini-camp fit in well with that history of community service.
 
“Each summer, we review the events we have offered for years and try to think of new ideas to add to our offerings,” Brunken said. “Last year, Jenna Rogers proposed this idea and we put it together as a pilot.”
 
Sixteen LPS students with disabilities participated in 2022 and 13 were involved this year. All of their siblings were welcome to join in on the fun, which increased the total number of participants past 25. Parents and grandparents were also invited to watch children play in the track and field complex.
 
Everyone did stretches and jumping jacks in a circle before rotating through different track and field stations. Students threw plastic javelins, cleared tiny hurdles and leapt over a flexible high-jump bar. They gathered together for a relay race before receiving certificates of completion from Rogers, who greeted each student with a big smile.
 
All of the Huskers displayed the same expressions as Kalynn Meyer, who watched with happiness as students raced down the long jump runway towards the sandpit. Meyer is a two-time member of the Tom Osborne Citizenship Team and heard about the event from Rogers last year. The UNL junior said she was eager to experience those smiles on a firsthand basis this fall.
 
“Jenna talked about doing this last year, and I was really excited to get a chance to help,” Meyer said. “This is my first year and I’ve had a really good time. It’s been so much fun to get to meet the kids and families.”
 
Rogers said it has been incredible to watch close-knit bonds form between the Huskers and local students. Brooklyn Miller gave high-fives to students as they soared into the sandpit, Riley Masten helped them successfully transfer the relay baton and Josh Marcy grinned as students asked him to raise or lower the high-jump bar.
 
Rogers said she wants everyone in the Lincoln community to experience those same joyful moments for many years to come.
 
“I’d like to see this keep going long after I’ve graduated,” Rogers said. “Hopefully this is something that will grow year by year, because it’s just a really awesome thing to be a part of.”

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