For Immediate Release

Date:  October 27, 2006 

BLOOMSBURG— Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania’s Student Council for Exceptional Children (SCEC), along with the Columbia Montour Special Olympics, will host the third annual Special Olympics Bocce Bash Invitational, Saturday, Nov. 11, at 10 a.m. in BU’s Nelson Field House.

The invitational will feature about 30 bocce teams from Pennsylvania, as well as teams from Virginia. The bocce teams will be both traditional and unified. Traditional bocce teams involve two special Olympians; a unified bocce team consists of one special Olympian and one volunteer athlete. Bocce is an Italian variety of lawn bowling.

According to Caitlan Siggins, a native of Temple who is president of SCEC and a junior with a major in special education/elementary education, the event is organized by students. As many as 200 BU students will serve as volunteers during the event. 

Special guests for this year’s invitational include Janine Cesare, president of Special Olympics PA, and Al Senavitis, chair of the Special Olympics PA Board of Directors. The all-day event will start with an opening ceremony and parade of athletes. The games will begin around 10:30 a.m. and will be followed by an awards ceremony. 

Seven full bocce courts will be available, as well as an Olympic Village for athletes when they are not playing. In the family area, athletes and their families will be able to win baskets containing various gifts and items donated by BU student organizations.

For more information, contact Caitlan Siggins at cesiggin@bloomu.edu. 

Bloomsburg University is one of 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The university serves approximately 8,000 students, offering comprehensive programs of study in the colleges of Professional Studies, Business, Liberal Arts and Science and Technology.

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