Within the magic of Special Olympics and Fall Fest at Villanova, there is a long list of logistical necessities. Of those necessities, one of the most crucial is athlete placement and the housing letters that go along with those placements, which falls under the purview of the Housing Committee. This year, the Housing Committee is composed of senior Chair Sarah Doherty, senior Angela DiBitetto and junior Julia Kavanagh.
Those letters, done by anyone and everyone involved in SpO from Committee to LPHs to VCs and ICs are centered around the year’s theme, wish the athletes well as the weekend begins and welcome them to Villanova’s campus.
“My favorite thing about [the housing letters] is I’ve had an athlete when I was a Volleyball VC come in and had my letter and brought it to competition the next day because I said I was gonna be at volleyball,” Doherty said. “He ended up finding my roommate, and being, like, ‘Who’s Sarah?’ and bringing the letter and he was just so shocked that we had written a letter for him and that it was personalized and gave well wishes and stuff like that. So, I think it’s another great way to make an athlete connection in a different way that you wouldn’t expect.”
In their primary role, members of this committee work with representatives from local hotels, along with representatives from Special Olympics of Pennsylvania to handle room restrictions, size restrictions and number of available rooms, while coordinating and problem-solving a variety of scenarios along the way.
“For housing, we house every single athlete and coach and volunteer that needs a place to stay during Fall Fest Weekend, so it’s, like, 1100-ish people,” Doherty said. “We decorate the hotels and make that experience as great as we can for them with accommodations, who they want to room with. And outside of placing them, [we] do housing letters. Every athlete gets a personalized housing letter.”
In terms of the logistics involved with this committee and the placing of the more than 1100 athletes and coaches, the work began back in February of this past semester, and committee members worked through the summer until the start of Fall Fest.
“While most people are only involved in the Fall [or during Fall Fest], committee preparation begins over 250 days prior to fall fest in February,” Kavanagh said. “I’ve absolutely loved this part of being involved because the process of preparing for months on end really shows me how each individual that contributes something extraordinary to offer and despite having different strengths, experiences and reasons for why we choose to be involved in this organization, we are all governed by our mission for promoting inclusion on Villanova’s campus.”
For Kavanagh, the dual responsibilities have been a wonderful experience, despite the workload, since she and her fellow committee members are doing this all in the spirit of inclusion and for all the right reasons.
“On housing, specifically, I’ve felt fortunate that my committee and I get the opportunity to coordinate the making of over 1000-plus individualized and personalized housing letters to every single participating athlete as well as allocate all athletes and supporting members of our athletes including family members, coaches and head of county delegations into their proper hotels,” Kavanagh said. “Getting to read the names of the athletes were addressing in our letters gives me a tangible tender feeling where I feel fortunate to make an impact.”
While this is one of the most time-consuming and hard-working roles on SpO Committee, it is also one of the most worthwhile ones and one that touches the lives of each athlete.
“The housing process in itself is a lot of hard work, but seeing everything come together is truly so rewarding,” DiBitetto said. “Making sure that each athlete has a place to relax and rest after a long day of competition is so valuable and vital, and I am so grateful to be part of the amazing committee that fulfills this.”
As athletes, families, coaches and county delegations travel to Villanova’s campus for Fall Fest, the amazing magic seen all weekend starts with those hotel rooms, with the planning out of every detail so everything is done right and making sure each athlete feels seen, appreciated and has a weekend they’ll never forget, from the moment they walk into their hotel room.
