Elias Olsen Profile
By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo
In a town like Norfolk, with so many residents doing an array of good deeds here, and all over the world, one may not be surprised to hear about a resident who donates mosquito nets to Africa, plays sports with disabled children and helps train Special Olympics athletes. What may come as a surprise is that this person is only 12 years old.

Superintendent’s Award winner Elias Olson.

Elias Olsen, son of Tina and Erick Olsen, has a confidence and ease rarely found in someone his age. A sixth grader at Botelle School, Olsen plays basketball and baseball, but still finds time to take part in the Unified Sports program (see article on page __) that his mother, a special education teacher in the Canton public school system, started at Botelle in February.
Olsen visits his mother’s classrooms often. After spending time with special needs students in Canton, he was thrilled by the opportunity to interact with other special needs kids in his own school system. “They may look a little different physically,” Olsen said, “but they’re exactly the same as us on the inside, and that’s what matters.”
Olsen also swims at the Winsted YMCA once a week with adults who are training for Special Olympics events. Inspired by a friend’s uncle, who is a Special Olympian, Olsen jumped at the opportunity to spend more time around people with special needs, and enjoys offering these athletes his encouragement.
Inspired by his parents’ tremendous philanthropic example, Olsen is also involved in the Nothing but Nets program which donates mosquito nets to people in Africa for the prevention of malaria. Ninety percent of all malaria deaths worldwide occur in Africa, and malaria is the number one cause of death in children there. Olsen organized a few fundraisers for the program, including a bake sale, and making and selling wrapping paper and gift bags for Christmas. He has raised money for over 250 nets to date.
Olsen was honored this past November (see January 2010 issue of Norfolk Now) with the Superintendent’s Award for “serving his school and community while maintaining good scholastic progress and exhibiting leadership qualities.” The Litchfield County Superintendents’ Association presents this distinguished award annually to one student in the sixth and eighth grades from each school district in the county.
Olsen looks forward to the summer in Norfolk, where he plans on spending a lot of time with friends at Tobey Pond, playing Scrabble™ and basketball with his father and visiting with extended family.
For more information on the Unified Sports program, or the Winsted YMCA Special Olympics events, contact Tina Olsen at olsen.tina@hotmail.com. To make a donation to Nothing but Nets, go to www.nothingbutnets.net.

Photo By Tina Olsen