At first glance, launching a kite from a wheelchair appeared to be a mission impossible.
Even the weather posed a challenge, bringing a calm blue sky instead of the requisite gusty spring breeze.
Nevertheless, a dozen teens from Hersey High School gathered in a Palatine field dotted with dandelions, as students from nearby Kirk Center–some confined to wheelchairs–were escorted outdoors by their teachers.
Tracy Sypura, a senior from Fremd High School, pushed the wheelchair of a severely disabled girl who was unable to speak, but mustered enough energy to squeal with joy as she watched her first kite climb to the sky.
“Kids with physical disabilities should get outdoors and see the world,” said Sypura, 18, a teacher’s assistant at the Kirk Center. “Working with these kids, you learn what they are made of.”
Hersey junior Mike Kennedy, 16, hitched up the sleeves of his T-shirt, working on his tan as he untangled the wayward kites that collided mid-air.
“I enjoy flying kites in the first place, but helping kids makes it even better,” Kennedy said.
Ralph Holmes, 18, a Hersey senior, said the Service Over Self Club members were inspired to share the joy of flying a kite with physically and mentally disabled students by the club’s founder.
“He’s a beautiful saint–he taught us how to love doing things like this,” Holmes said, referring to Hersey’s service club director, Will “Koz” Kozlowski. “I think they should name him St. Koz for the new millennium. He does a lot of good things.”
Kozlowski, who has headed up the service club for almost 30 years, said the organization is bolstered by 1,100 Hersey students, who each year volunteer for one or more service projects.
Roughly 180 students work in the community each day, which translates to 36,000 hours of service every year at area schools, hospitals and senior citizen centers.
The club–the first of its kind in Illinois–was founded by Kozlowski in 1970, after legislation was passed allowing teens to move beyond a school campus for educational and career enhancement, including volunteer work.
This year, the service club was honored as a finalist in the 1998 Golden Rule Awards, sponsored by the Volunteer Center of Northwest Suburban Cook County.
“It’s amazing. There are no cliques when you have kids holding the hand of an old person or pushing a child in a wheelchair,” Kozlowski said.
