On Saturday April 18, over 1000 4th through 6th grade students within the Los Altos School District participated in the district’s 64th annual Junior Olympics on Mountain View High School’s campus. Oak Elementary School hosted this year’s proceedings, led by Junior Olympic Chair leaders Jenny Brichko and Jamie Saxena.
The LASD Junior Olympics, first established in 1964, is composed of seven public schools: Almond, Covington, Gardner Bullis, Loyola, Oak, Santa Rita and Springer elementary schools. Additionally, Mountain View and Los Altos High Schools take turns every two years to host the event at their facilities.
Jenny Brichko and Jamie Saxena were among the thousands of parent volunteers who are annually responsible for preparing the Junior Olympics. The event is entirely volunteer-based with no compensation, relying on the dedication and support of LASD’s parent and student volunteers, according to the official Junior Olympics website.
“We do it for the kids, and we have a really, really great time,” Saxena said.
Brichko said that she and her partner started planning this year’s event nearly a year ago and were greatly assisted by Gardner Bullis, the previous year’s host school. Brickho commended each school, placed in charge of individual events and other parts of the Olympics, for their efficiency and commitment to the event, which has been crucial to its success year after year.
The LASD Junior Olympics involved an opening ceremony, complete with Oak Elementary’s choir and LASD’s combined 6th grade band, nine track and non-track related events scheduled throughout the day and a mascot parade. To ensure all schools’ participants are equally prepared, each school initiated a training period led by the District P.E. Department, preparing students for the events and being supported by parent volunteers.
“This event really does run itself,” Saxena said. “Every school knows exactly what their responsibilities are, and we’re really just here to facilitate all of that. …The schools know exactly what they’re supposed to be doing, and the event just happens.”
Both parents Brickho and Saxena said that watching the Junior Olympics becomes a core memory for kids and has been an inspiring part of their job, and that the event still makes an impact for adults looking back on their elementary school years.
“My children take Junior Olympics really seriously,” Brickho said. “They even do things like train because they’re so passionate about Junior Olympics… it [gets] them out of bed early on a weekend, and then gets their friends together, and then they run around the track together. I think that that’s really inspiring.”
