ALEX KOTAS

On Saturday, Randy and I went to College Church in Wheaton for a Special Olympics fundraiser with musical performances. We were speaking as Global Messengers for Special Olympics. When it was time for our speech, we walked onto the stage. Randy is carrying my laptop that had our Powerpoint presentation. Our speech was about the Special Olympics sports we participate in. There were some jokes thrown in, and we got good laughs from the crowd. Sometimes we had to wait until the

Getting ready! I was getting ready for the Special Needs Prom! The theme was a masquerade / Mardi Gras party. I knew several people who were going: Caitlin, Gayle, Randy, Rachel, Erin, Gabby, Maryann, April, Zack, Stephanie. Also Cinderella and Prince Charming showed up! I walked the red carpet on the way in, much like you would see at a Hollywood premiere. I got a boutonniere. There was face painting / arm painting while they played some great songs. Why get your face painte

The Aurora Police Department invited Randy, Caitlin, Gayle, Sheila and I to "roll call" to talk about Special Olympics. Roll call is when the police officers get ready for their shift. Sheila helped us decide what to say to the police officers. We were educating the police officers about Special Olympics hoping that more officers will help out with future Special Olympics fundraisers. We have helped the Aurora Police Department with some fundraisers like: Red Robin, Culvers

The Polar Plunge is a fundraiser for Special Olympics. There are many polar plunge locations, I was at the one at Loon Lake in Yorkville. The main event of the Polar Plunge is to actually go into a lake in the winter!!! Before taking the plunge, we had to register and we looked for officers from the Aurora Police Department. Despite having foot surgery, officer Lisa decided to show up and support Special Olympics. I saw some friends there. They had lunch, pulled pork sandwi

Special Olympics has a fundraiser called Polar Plunge. All donations go to Special Olympics. The Polar Plunge takes place at various locations, we are going to the one at Loon Lake in Yorkville on Sunday 3/5 at 1:00. It ends at 3:00 pm. My family formed a team called "Team Brain Freeze". Please make a donation. Here is a link to our team page: http://soill.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.team&teamID=8183 The idea is to actually go into the cold lake water in

Tomorrow is my birthday ... the "Big 2-3". I plan to go to BD's Mongolian Grill for dinner. It is one of my favorite restaurants. Bowling started back last Sunday. We celebrated with cupcakes. I got an autographed signed bowling pin, signed by some of the players and staff. I got 3rd place in the total scores. I'm looking forward to the "Shine Bright" prom. It's pretty cool, they have a limo with free Coca-Cola's in it - who wouldn't go for that! Last year Vladimir Bou

I am taking some time to look through new possibilities for 2017 with volunteering and fun activities with FVSRA and Tae Kwon Do. Some possibilities are: Pay it Forward - do various service projects in the surrounding community Aktion Club - a group that serves the community and develops leadership skills Open Mic Night - take turns singing your favorite tunes Friends Night In - have dinner, play games, swim and have a snack Husky Heroes - The Morton Arboretum is hosting thei

With several friends and Aurora Police Officers, I collected donations for Special Olympics! 1994 - birth of a salesman, me! Since I'm a good salesman, I got people to donate! It was enjoyable! What a great night, I remember it well, collecting more donations for Special Olympics charity benefit. It was very sunny! I was in and out of the restaurant, working with the Aurora Police Officers. I saw my father go past me on his bike. There were a lot of customers in Culver's t

Christkindlmarket is an outdoor market with vendors selling food and gifts. It is located at Naper Settlement. I had the opportunity to sing Christmas carols with Artful Impact, where I go for theatre class. There were about 15 singers. We sang a collection of various holiday songs such as "Let It Snow", "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" and "Deck the Halls". It was freezing cold but no snow. People stopped by to listen. We sang to them. Occasionally people sang along wit

Special Olympics has a leadership program called Global Messenger. You go for training for 2 days, 3 nights. We went to Bloomington-Normal, IL. There were presentations by the trainers (PowerPoint). There were people I knew there, there were about 25 or 30 total athletes there. Each athlete had to make a speech of about 2 - 3 minutes. I planned some of the speech ahead of time, but worked on it at the hotel using PowerPoint. We practiced the speeches the night before and the