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Show B-6 The Park Record Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, June 1-4, 2019 COURTESY OF LAUREN MACUGA Lauren Macuga races at the U.S. Alpine speed championships in Sugarloaf on March 19. It was Macuga’s first NorAm level event and she placed 10th and 12th. Continued from B-3 Macuga named to U.S. team slalom and 25th in giant slalom. On March 27, two days later, she competed at the junior national championships at the same resort and took fifth in giant slalom and second in Super G (held at Mittersill Cannon Mountain). Her ranking was improving, but she was still on the far side of the magic number, 450, that separated hopefuls from nation- Continued from B-4 Volunteer helps for 50 years versity. Her father was a Lutheran minister, and as a child, she would go with him on his rounds with special needs children and she would play with them the Advice for the life you lead Advice. Beyond investing. You have a vision for how you want to live for today, tomorrow and beyond. We start by asking the right questions to uncover what’s most important, and then work with you to create a plan to help you pursue it. Along the way, we offer advice that addresses every aspect of your financial life, at every stage of your life. It’s what we call: Advice. Beyond investing. For some of life’s questions, you’re not alone. Together we can find an answer. Glen Mintz Senior Portfolio Manager Managing Director 435 - 249 - 6275 glen.mintz@ubs.com Noah Levine Senior Vice President- Investments 435 - 615 - 7169 noah.levine@ubs.com Gregory Golding, CIMA®, CWS® Senior Vice President- Wealth Management 435 - 615 - 6652 gregory.golding@ubs.com Mogul Financial Group UBS Financial Services Inc. 255 Heber Avenue, Suite E Park City, UT 84060 435 - 252 - 3825 888 - 219 - 4914 ubs.com/team/mogul As a firm providing wealth management services to clients, UBS Financial Services Inc. offers both investment advisory services and brokerage services. Investment advisory services and brokerage services are separate and distinct, differ in material ways and are governed by different laws and separate arrangements. It is important that clients understand the ways in which we conduct business and that they carefully read the agreements and disclosures that we provide to them about the products or services we offer. For more information visit our website at ubs.com/workingwithus. CIMA® is a registered certification mark of the Investment Management Consultants Association, Inc. in the United States of America and worldwide. For designation disclosures visit https://www.ubs.com/us/en/designation-disclosures.html. ©UBS 2019. All rights reserved. UBS Financial Services Inc. is a subsidiary of UBS AG. Member FINRA/SIPC. D-UBS-0414F1F2 al team nominees. After another 10 days of FIS events, she still needed another podium finish. Her whole season came down to that spring morning in California. “There were no more opportunities left,” Hey said. Macuga said she remembers standing at the top of the mountain waiting for her turn. “I had to clear my head to focus on skiing well instead of meeting points,” she said. “Once I got into the gate, I wasn’t worried about it. … That whole run just felt so good, and I guess it worked.” She took third overall, enough to put her at 445th. “When I got to the top after the race and saw my coach up there, I just had a feeling inside that I did it,” she said. But the decision ultimately comes down to the coaches, and so Macuga waited for a call. A week went by, then another and another. Still no call. “For a month or so I was on edge,” Macuga said. Then it came. On a day like any other, the voice of U.S. Ski and Snowboard Alpine development director Chip Knight came through her phone, telling Macuga she had made the team. “I got all teary eyed,” Macuga said. “I was so excited, right after the call with him, I called my parents. It was so unbelievable.” She thought it would be another year or two before she made the team, but during her first season at the FIS level, she’d done it. She’d made the cut. same as anyone else. A dedication to her faith and a desire for an education far from home led her to Valparaiso. Woycik graduated in 1952 with a degree in physical education. Woycik worked in a Chesterton elementary school with 43 students, two of which had special needs. In 1953, she married her husband, Barney, who was her “biggest fan.” He died in 2013. Woycik said he always let her be herself. After they got married and had three children, Woycik stopped teaching first grade and stayed at home to take care of the children. Then in 1957 she got a call that changed her path. “When I got the phone call, it was the furthest thing from my mind,” Woycik said. “And if I hadn’t said yes, I wouldn’t have had such a blessed life.” The call was about what would become the Vale Day school, a place for special needs children to study and prepare for supervised employment, one of the first places for special education of those with disabilities. Woycik had three hours to take the position before a meeting that night. She accepted and from there, the Vale Day school started with five children. After two years, there were 42 children enrolled. Before, special needs students were sent off to private and boarding schools because special needs children “weren’t considered teachable,” Woycik said. “That’s so, so wrong.” “At first it was guesswork because there were no books, no suggestions or anything for the lower-functioning children,” Woycik said. “Once I got started ... I felt, `Oh wow, this is so cool.”’ The school was funded by people in the community, but had to move several times before settling on its spot at Valparaiso University. The land was leased to it for $1 per year. “It was just a dream come true,” Woycik said. When the children came to the school for the first time, a 6-yearold named Beth was so excited to be at a school, just like her older brother, Bobby, Woycik said. “She went, `Teacher, this is my desk! This is my chair! Just like Bobby’s!”’ Woycik remembered. In the late 1960s, the Vale Day school was in the process of being closed and students transferred to local public schools. At the same time in the summer of 1968, the first International Special Olympics Summer Games were held at Soldier Field in Chicago. “I thought that sounded so cool,” Woycik said. “That our kids would be able to compete and have fun and do sports.” Special Olympics was officially incorporated August 1968 and just a year later, Indiana joined in. Area I includes Elkhart, Jasper, Lake, LaPorte, Porter, Marshall, Newton, Starke and St. Jo- seph counties. In 1972, Woycik became the area coordinator for nine sports leagues and more than 250 athletes. She was a coordinator and coach for more than 18 years. She was an international coach in 1979, 1981, 1985 and 1987. “Physical activity is almost as important as mental activity,” Woycik said. “Physical helps mental, and mental helps physical.” Woycik still coaches swimming and basketball. She broke her pelvis recently but still gets to the YMCA each time for practice. When asked what she does now with the athletes, Woycik had a simple answer: “Love them.” Bob Havrilla, of Porter County Special Olympics, has a 25-yearold son who has been involved in the group since he was 8. “(The athletes) love her,” he said. “She’s done so much for so many.” The athletes don’t always smile at her, Havrilla said. Woycik is a coach and mentor and she’s tough on them. But they still smile and go up for a hug. Special Olympics is all volunteering, nothing is paid. “That’s just the type of person she is,” Havrilla said of Woycik. Woycik has worked with thousands of athletes and students over the years and many of the people she has influenced and affected in Valparaiso came together to celebrate her May 5. It was all started and organized by Lisa Talley, a Valparaiso University graduate student who was following an assignment. She wanted to find an important, untold piece of the university’s history to share. Talley thought it would be just a 15-minute interview, but now considers Woycik to be a “kindred spirit.” “I know I’m a different person because of Lorrie,” Talley said. Talley’s paper became 25 pages on Woycik’s life and a documentary. She said that if all the interviews and “everything of value” was included, it would have been three hours long. One of her friends involved in the project suggested they could have a viewing, which turned into a thank-you celebration for Woycik. So many people were willing to help for Woycik’s benefit, Talley said. “Lorrie wanted them to have an experience just like every other child does,” Talley said. “Lorrie really has done just about everything.” Both Talley and Woycik weren’t expecting the crowd they got at the event. Talley estimated more than 300 people showed up to celebrate Woycik. People spoke about her impact on their lives, and 30 Special Olympics athletes stood up to give Woycik a flower or a medal. They told her, “You are my gold medal.” “I (have) had the best life ever,” Woycik said. |