AUBURN, Mass. - Students in Auburn took the field for the town’s first ever School Day Games.

In partnership with Auburn Public Schools and Special Olympics Massachusetts, students as young as 5 and as old at 22 are taking part in the Unified Game Day, an Olympic-style tournament.

Students are competing in all different track and field and obstacle course events for a medal. 

“All students K-12 and beyond are doing your basic track and field events, a 50-meter run, 100-meter run, shot put and long jump and, hopefully, every student was able to qualify for the event they wanted to do,” Parker Veideman, an event organizer and Auburn High graduate, said. “It is going to be a good time.”

“Everybody here has been training for several weeks in different sport related activities, track and field, young athletes and today is just a great way to culminate and celebrate what everyone has been working on the past several weeks,” Eric Archambault, a program manager with Special Olympics Massachusetts, said.

The town originally set the Unified Game Day for 2020. Organizers started planning it in 2019 and after a two-year delay because of the pandemic, they say they are thrilled to finally see the event come together.