On August 13, 2013 Partners in Community launched its first ever Family OlymPiCs at the Morgan School with almost 80 participants! Planned primarily by Morgan students Jess Accetta, AJ Rai and Shelby Mehmet, the Family OlymPiCs included a free dinner for all participants, a free treat from the ice cream truck, and numerous cooperative games outside on the Morgan athletic fields.
EMPOWER, an adventure activity organization from Middletown, assisted PiC leaders in running the cooperative games. Families attempted to walk on long stilt boards (6+ people per board), assisted a golf ball in travelling safely down the field in multiple PVC pipes, assembled gigantic puzzles with human sized pieces, created hula hoop towers, figured out a massive sized game of memory and matching, and managed to flip over a tarp with 8-10 people standing on it! Each game required that families communicate a plan with one another and cooperate in its execution. Participants had a lot of fun playing with their family members both with and against other families!
One of the developmental assets that PiC focuses its attention and activities on is Family Communication. The Search Institute survey that was conducted of 7-12 grade Clinton students last fall showed PiC that only 35% of students felt that they had positive communication within their families, and that they would turn to their family for help. PiC found this to be very concerning! Events like Family OlymPiCs help parents and children interact in ways that they may not normally, helping to build bridges of communication while having fun.