Area 5 Special Olympics Athlete of the Year, Kirk Conrad, is pictured with Becky Walls, Kosciusko County coordinator of the program. (Photo provided)

On Monday, Sept. 16, Special Olympics Indiana Area 5 which includes eight counties held its annual kick-off meeting in Logansport, Ind., to review upcoming programs and events for the coming year and choose the area athlete, coach, volunteer and family of the year.

This year’s Area 5 winners included athlete Kirk Conrad and coach John Bonitati, both of Kosciusko County. The winners from Area 5 advance to Indianapolis on Jan. 24, 2014, for the Spirit of the Olympics meeting and awards for the state of Indiana.

Cinda Milan, Special Olympics Indiana Area 5 Director received nominations that were judged by an outside group. Also nominated from Kosciusko County were volunteer Jean Bibler and the DeGaetano Family.

This year’s Area 5 winners were:
Athlete – Kirk Conrad, Kosciusko County
Coach – John Bonitati, Kosciusko County
Volunteer – Barry Schwen, Cass County
Family – McKinney-Baugher Family, Howard County

Area 5 athlete winner Kirk Conrad has participated as an athlete in bowling, basketball, track and field, corn toss and flag football. He lives in Noble County, but because there is not a program in that county, Kirk participates with Kosciusko County Special Olympics. He will drive 45 minutes to attend practice.

Becky Walls, Kosciusko County coordinator for Special Olympics, stated Kirk is a friendly, caring and hardworking athlete with behavior that serves as an example for the other athletes to follow. Conrad works at Owen’s Supermarket in Kimmel. Walls also said everyone from Special Olympics in Kosciusko County is very proud of Kirk Conrad.

Area 5 coach winner John Bonitati was involved this year with skills basketball, bocce and golf.

Becky also wanted to thank Jean Bibler, nominated for Volunteer of the Year, for her many years of excellent service to Special Olympics and the contributions of the DeGaetano family, nominated for Family of the Year.