Seventeen aviation students and two teachers piled into a school bus heading to O’Hare International Airport on Saturday Sept. 16 to participate in LT’s second plane pull fundraiser.

This year marked the ninth annual Law Enforcement Torch Run Plane Pull event, according to Special Olympics Illinois. Along with 84 other teams, LT’s crew of 19, including Applied Technology teacher Dave Root and Small Engines teacher Josh Nabasny, successfully pulled a plane 12 feet, using a tug-of-war rope attached to the nose of a plane, Root said.

The two planes consisted of an Airbus A300 and a Boeing 737-900, each weighing about 180,000 pounds, according to Special Olympics Illinois. LT’s group was assigned to pull the Airbus A300, Root said.

“It was really hard,” aviation student Luciano Vitale ‘18 said. “It took us probably about 10 seconds to actually even get it moving. And then from there it was like we had almost run out of time already.”

The event was divided into three separate divisions: Public Safety, Hotel, and Open Division, according to Special Olympics Illinois. LT competed in the Open Division, Root said.

In order to participate, each team had to raise a minimum of $1,000, Root said. LT students raised a total of $1,500, all of which was donated to Special Olympics Illinois.

“[We participate] to raise money for Special Olympics and get our students excited and motivated to raise money for the cause,” Root said.

The Special Olympics program at LT is for students with special needs or disabilities who want to be involved in a team sport, Special Olympics basketball white team head coach Darwin De Pina said.

“I think across the board in Illinois and across the nation, Special Olympics is pretty important because a lot of the athletes want to be treated just like everybody else, so I think the money for Special Olympics is just a little extra addition,” De Pina said.

The donations to Special Olympics Illinois help with any needs the program may have, he said.

“I think it’s something that’s often overlooked,” Root said. “We don’t tend to focus on Special Olympic athletes, so I think it’s something very worthy to raise funds for and I think they could use the funds.”

Many students participated in the plane pull because of the positive effects it would have on the Special Olympics program, Root said.

“It was a lot of fun,” Vitale said. “We’re all close in this class and it was a way to bring us closer. I have a cousin that participated in Special Olympics, so that’s why I did it.”