Successful track meet

Thank you, La Conner. I am a history teacher and head football and track coach at La Conner High School and would like to take a moment and say thank you to the La Conner community. In my time at the high school, I have consistently experienced great community support; however, our home track meet on March 15 was a high point.

To host a successful track meet, it takes 40+ people, nearly all volunteer, to safely and adequately staff everything. In most schools of any size, the responsibility of officiating and running the various events at a meet falls to whomever the hosting coach can muster, which in my case has included in-laws, parents of athletes, the La Conner and visiting coaching staffs. One of my goals is to host high-quality meets without tapping into athletes’ parents or coaches, allowing parents to support their kids and coaches to coach.

On Wednesday, March 15, we hosted seven visiting schools for our first meet and had a great, and what I have come to know as typical, response from the La Conner community.

In preparing for the meet, I reached out to local civic organizations, and Rotarians, Soroptimists, and Kiwanians responded: thank you.

A significant group of recent LCHS alumni volunteered: thank you.

My fellow LCSD employees pitched in from administrators to aides: thank you.

But the group that garnered the most attention, possibly because they showed up with a big red truck with lights and sirens, was the La Conner Fire Department.

On relatively short notice, a dozen volunteers arrived at the scene in uniform looking to serve: thank you.

Nearly every visiting coach I spoke with during and after the meet commented on the firefighters and the air of professionalism that came with them.

The vulnerability of relying on volitional help at any level is a bit scary; however, the La Conner community pulls through when it counts. Whether it is supporting school programs, civic organizations, neighbor-to-neighbor, or just helping out at a high school track meet, it is great to be a part of a community with service and care for one another at its core. We are hosting two additional track meets this season, March 31 and May 3; if you are interested in helping out, supporting kids, and demonstrating some of the community involvement that makes this place great, please email me at [email protected].

Thanks,

Peter Voorhees

La Conner High School