To My Friend…

The beautiful poem below was written by 14-year old Project UNIFY youth leader Raven McCombs from North Carolina.

Special Olympics athlete Taylor Stickle listens on as Raven McCombs reads her poem.

Your spirit has taught me that we are so far behind, you face challenges that don’t compare to mine.

I am in awe of all of your courage, you never seem to get discouraged.

We all often just walked on by, and never noticed the light in your eye.

You always accept us for who we are, and he is the reason we have made it this far.

It is my honor to call you a friend, a friend I’ll be there for them beginning to end.

Not another day will go by where you have to sit and wonder why.

I’ll be there for you, you’ll be there for me. Our trust is the clue and our love is the key.

Basketball = Fun + Friendship

The following blog post comes from Garret Lee, a Special Olympics Colorado volunteer & student at the University of Denver. 

The past 5 weeks, I have had the privilege to be the lead volunteer for the Red Shirt Rookies* program at Summit Elementary School in the Cherry Creek School District. I came into Summit with plans to implement a nearly identical program to that of my Unified Sports team at Heritage High School, but quickly learned that the Red Shirt Rookies program was different. In fact, all levels of Project Unify are different, and each school is unique, which is part of the reason the program is so powerful.

While at first, the large number of Rookies was hard to manage, my group of volunteers and I grew to love the program’s flexibility. No matter what activities we had the athletes and partners do, they approached it with a smile on their face. Obviously, shooting the basketball was most of the kids’ favorite part. It was my favorite too, because I saw the most improvement. Seeing the smiles on kids’ faces that could barely shoot the ball but learned to make a basket was unforgettable.

While observing the skill development was exciting, the most inspirational part of the program for me was watching the growth in the children involved. At first, it was very apparent that many of the special needs athletes were uncomfortable around the partners, and the partners weren’t too open to be friends with the athletes. However as time went on, we saw friendships develop across the boundaries simply through passing a basketball… that was incredible. By the final cheer on the last practice, it was very apparent that many of these boundaries between the Rookies had been broken down and all of the kids felt comfortable around each other. It is inspiring to see that these children will soon be our leaders, and they will be doing it together. All of my volunteers and I are excited to see the upcoming boundaries that can be broken down in the spring, when this group of amazing Red Shirt Rookies hit the soccer pitch.

*Red Shirt Rookies is an after school basketball skills program for students with and without intellectual disabilities in grades K – 5. The young students work with local volunteers to practice their basketball skills and have fun getting to know their peers.

Presenting at the Department of Education

Two weeks ago Special Olympics Project UNIFY had a meeting with the U.S. Department of Education, who has continued to support Project UNIFY for the past four years.  Each year we have a meeting with them to show what we have been doing and to demonstrate that Project UNIFY is truly making a difference across the country.  At this meeting, we had our University of Massachusetts Boston evaluation team there to present statistics from the year that provided research-based data.

In addition to sharing data on Project UNIFY, three youth leaders joined us in order to give the anecdotal proof that Project UNIFY is truly making a difference in our schools and communities. Read below to meet the three youth and learn more about their topics while speaking at the Department of Education:

Clement Coulson: The opportunity Project UNIFY gave him to be a youth leader and how he takes those skills and uses them in other organizations.

Click photo to read Clement’s comments.

Rachel Ward: Her experience at the Global Youth Activation Summit, which took place a few weeks ago at the World Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, and what it meant to her to be a leader within it and also how other countries implement Project UNIFY in contrast to the United States.

Click photo to read Rachel’s comments.

Samantha Huffman: What comes from inclusive experiences in school and how Project UNIFY has not only been life changing for her, but also many other youth.

Click on photo to read Samantha’s comments.

Schools should be Safe

The following blog post is from Samantha Huffman and was written in response to a recent article about a special needs student who was bound with duct tape during school.

Samantha is a former National Youth Activation Committee member and current senior, studying Elementary Education at Hanover College.  

I recently went to a conference where a young man with cerebral palsy kept bringing up how we needed to focus on students with disabilities being tied down to chairs or restrained and/or harmed in some other way by educators.  I kept thinking to myself how this wasn’t important because this would never be allowed to happen in a school in today’s society.  I’m a senior Elementary Education major and never once in my four years of classes have we addressed the idea of restraining students because that’s just plain wrong, isn’t it?  Well, apparently I was living in some kind of dream world and this young man at the conference was living in the real world.

Today I read one of the most terrifying and saddening stories.  In Indianapolis, my hometown nonetheless, an 8-year old girl with Down syndrome came home on the bus with industrial duct tape wrapped around her shoes and socks, which went all the way to the top of her ankles.  Shaylyn, the young girl, wasn’t even able to walk off the bus by herself because it hurt too much.  After her mom carried her daughter off the bus, she immediately took her back to the school where she received help to remove the duct tape.  The process took 30 minutes and left Shaylyn with bruises all over her ankles.

School is supposed to be a place where all children go to receive an education and this education is expected to be in a safe environment.  When this safe environment is jeopardized, the entire education system begins to crumble.

How is a student supposed to reach their full learning potential when they have to worry about the possibility of being harmed by their teacher?  In Shaylyn’s case, it was something as simple as not wanting to wear shoes that caused her to be harmed.  This was doing nothing to interfere with her education, yet one of her teachers decided to not only take away her time of learning to focus on her shoes, but she also chose to restrain her.

This wasn’t just a one-time case.  Currently there are 20 states that have no school policy against restraining students.  That means, that at any given moment of the school day, those students have the possibility of being physically restrained by their teachers and there’s nothing that can be done because it isn’t against policy.  How can this be possible in today’s world?  Teachers can get fired for hitting a child, but it’s perfectly fine for them to tape a student’s shoes to their feet or tie a student to a chair?  To me, these seem equivalently harmful to students, both physically and emotionally, as being hit.

We have come so far with bullying campaigns, disability awareness, etc.  But how can we expect students to view those with disabilities as equals when there are teachers out there who still dehumanize their students with disabilities?  For every student we reach with our awareness, there is a student out there who is turned away from accepting those with disabilities as equals because they see their teacher- their role model- disrespecting and dehumanizing one.

In what world is it okay to physically restrain someone because they aren’t doing what you want them to do?  It is not okay.  These policies need to be created in order to protect all students, especially those with disabilities.  And these teachers that think it is okay need to find a new profession.  Teachers are supposed to protect their students, build their self-esteem, and show them that they matter as a person. How is a teacher doing any of these things when they physically restrain their students?  The answer is they’re not.  All they are doing is showing their students that they have no power over what happens to them.  All they are doing is showing them that they are less than human because their free will- their ability to move freely as they wish- can be taken away for something as simple as not wanting to wear shoes.

Luckily, most teachers aren’t like this.  Most teachers are extremely successful in protecting their students, building their self-esteem, and showing them that they matter as people.  They have the appropriate skills and training to manage the many behavior challenges they will experience in their classrooms.  Unfortunately, many teachers are not given adequate training, instruction, and tools that would make this kind of act of desperation against a child an aberration.

Professional development and appropriate pre-service education for teachers is critical to ensure that we don’t fail our children.

Farewell to the GYAS

The day is finally upon us – we have to bid farewell to all of our amazing youth leaders and chaperones and officially close the 2013 Special Olympics Global Youth Activation Summit.

The past 10 days have been energetic, thought provoking, inspiring and amazing. These passionate youth leaders from around the world are primed to make positive change in their communities and are ready to promote acceptance, respect and dignity for all people.

As we close out the 2013 GYAS, I wanted to leave you with a few words from Sashi Montaña and Brina Maxino of the Philippines. These dynamic and effervescent young women were elected by their peers to serve as the co-chairs for the 2013 – 2015 GYAS. In this role, they’ll help guide their fellow youth leaders in activating Special Olympics around the world and help to plan for the 2015 GYAS in Los Angles, California.

“My name is Sashi Montaña, youth partner for the Global Youth Activation Summit (GYAS), and I am writing this together with Brina Maxino, Special Olympics athlete, and we are from the Philippines.

We are thrilled and very honored to be elected as the co-chairs for the next GYAS in Los Angeles, World Summer Games 2015! We are beyond grateful for this opportunity to be part of this wonderful movement. We will continue to strive to do our best always.

During the GYAS, we have learned many valuable and practical things and we have made awesome new friends from different delegations around the world who share the same mission and vision. We have created such beautiful memories together that we will never forget! It would be an understatement to say that it has been such an AMAZING summit!
We have definitely caught on the fire of Special Olympics and we want to pass it on to others as it was passed on to us. We want to lead and activate other youth like us to be agents of change.

Brina and I may not be as experienced and skilled as others may be because of their long involvement with Special Olympics, but we learned that what matters most is our hearts. We have the hearts to change the world. We believe that a difference can be made in this world if we have the love and the courage to help, be selfless, and do all that we can do. We will achieve our responsibilities with positive, motivated and changed hearts.

Many believe in us, we believe in ourselves and we believe in each other.”

Their spirit, passion and dedication is a true representation of the power and determination of our GYAS youth leaders.

Good luck to all as you head home to change the world!

A Focus on Value and Respect

Day four at the 2013 Special Olympics Global Youth Activation Summit – youth leaders came together to celebrate the power and importance of young people in the Special Olympics Movement.

Read below to hear about some of the amazing activities from the day.

Today, GYAS leaders discussed and identified the values that they see in Special Olympics Project UNIFY. For each value, youth either described its meaning or shared personal experiences corresponding to that value. Through this, we were able to articulate how our unique experiences combine in creating this “for the youth, by the youth” movement. Read a brief sample of the work below to understand the values of Project UNIFY according to our GYAS teams:

• TEAMWORK — “Teamwork is very important because we are shaped by the people around us. We South Africans believe in the spirit of Ubuntu.” – Vincent Ramorwesi & Thapelo Nthite, South Africa
• COURAGE — “It takes courage for one to stand by the athletes no matter what problems they face.” – Peter Kamade & Francis Gitau, Kenya
• THE SPIRIT OF SPORT — “Whether you win or lose at the end, you should always enjoy the process.” – Ngan Ieng Chan & Io Seng Lei, Macau
• OPPORTUNITY — “Giving youth a voice.” – Giovanna De Luca, Italy
• ACCEPTANCE — “It fosters positive attitudes towards people with disabilities as it shows their capabilities and talents.” – Rahma Aly & Farah Ghaffar, Egypt
• RESPECT — Respecting everyone’s difference because ‘we are more alike than different.” – Vashti Thompson & Jodi Cornish, Bahamas

Following an engaging “Youth Do Change the World” session, GYAS leaders headed to Alpensia Resort to watch competitions, explore the Festival Village and participate in the Global Youth Rally, a fun and interactive event that shared the messages of acceptance, unity and friendship with about 900 domestic (Korea) and international students.

The theme of the Global Youth Rally was ‘Tied Together’ and encouraged rally participants to bond together to create awareness for Special Olympics and initiate meaningful social change in their communities, countries and beyond. In an inspiring moment amongst lots of dancing, singing and fun, Special Olympics Chairman Tim Shriver, issued a call to participants, “Who is the next revolutionary… you are! Your time is now. The last great human rights revolution is being lead by you.”

Since a picture’s worth a thousand words… check out a photo album that shares some of the great memories from our adventures today.

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Reflection…What Does this Mean to You?

Is it a fancy word for answering questions? A time to fill out a survey with options (A), (B) or (C)? Or, is reflection a:

• Summation of one’s personal experiences, feelings and ideas, which influence the way he or she interacts with the world?
• Opportunity to synthesize new information, with one’s existing knowledge, thus identifying areas of congruity and areas of disparity?
• Springboard to deepen or modify one’s inner morals and principles, through surmising on topics that challenge us to craft our “personal opinion”?
• Learning moment when one shares his or her reflection with the group, painting a “clearer and inclusive picture” of the topic?

Today, Youth Leaders at the 2013 Special Olympics Global Youth Activation Summit, engaged in a Comprehensive Reflection Time, even though we have only participated in Four Youth Do Change the World Educational Sessions.  Rather than waiting until the end of the Summit to reflect, we allotted time so we can (1) celebrate our successes (2) identify our challenges and (3) create an action plan moving forward.

Through an interactive protocol, everyone was able to discuss these important questions, while meeting new people.  From the reflection, we co-created a list of seven action points, that we will incorporate throughout the rest of the Summit.  As you can see from these pictures, the value and creative expression from fellow youth leaders is nothing less-than amazing.

As young people, we are redefining how we can best support each other. As co-leaders, we are taking the roles of both teachers and learners. As advocates, we are committing ourselves to equity, inclusion and dignity for all People.

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Youth Do Change the World

Annyeonghaseyo! (which means ‘hello’ in Korean) –

Today, almost 80 youth leaders with and without intellectual disabilities from around the world gathered in Pyeongchang, South Korea for the first day of the 2013 Special Olympics Global Youth Activation Summit (GYAS, for short). Over the next week and a half, these passionate and dedicated youth leaders will talk about leadership and share their experiences about spreading the message of Special Olympics to their schools and communities.

Take a look at some of the great photos from our first day of activities! 

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To give you a sneak peek of the amazing leaders here at the GYAS – meet Brina. With her partner Sashi, she’s making history as the first Filipina to represent the Asia Pacific region at the Global Youth Summit.  It’s only Day One and she’s already inspired me with her leadership and determination! Read her story.

Stay tuned over the next week and a half for more great updates from the youth leaders themselves!!

Inspired to Lead

Today’s guest blog post comes from Special Olympics Delaware youth leader Lauren Conley, who is currently a student at the University of Delaware. 

I can remember being six-years-old, standing on Rehoboth Beach along with thousands of other Special Olympic supporters, bundled up in my snow gear holding my dad’s towel as he proceeded to plunge into the icy Atlantic Ocean. Twenty years ago, my dad, was dared by a patient of his to embrace the cold for an outstanding organization and take part in the Delaware Polar Bear Plunge. Since then, Special Olympics Delaware as changed the life of my family through miraculous experiences we continue to witness today.

For the past 18 years, Special Olympics has been much more to me than just a chance to get some community service hours. Special Olympics has served as my second family and the place where I learned the true essence of perseverance, respect, inclusion, and acceptance. Through my involvement as a Unified Partner, swim coach, and camp counselor, the dedication and drive each athlete displays reminds me every day that we are capable of all things, some deem impossible. Those who wander outside the atmosphere and community of Special Olympics will never know the life changing experiences this organization provides to those with and without intellectual disabilities.

Through my experiences, I have longed to attract more people my age to come and discover the greatness of Special Olympics. For so many years, Special Olympics was something I did with my family; however, as I started developing a better understanding for Special Olympics, I found that I wanted my friends and peers to experience the fantastically overwhelming environment I had been exposed to my entire life.

That is why I started my high school’s Project UNIFY club two years ago. Our club is devoted to volunteering at Special Olympics sporting events, promoting awareness about Special Olympics and having students take the lead through Project UNIFY. In high school, I began to understand what Special Olympics really meant to me when I witnessed the bullying of a fellow athlete and classmate. Through Project UNIFY, I was inspired to lead others to help change people’s attitudes towards those who are different. From that moment on I can truly say that without Special Olympics I would not be the person I am today.

Special Olympics athletes have ignited the passion within me to make sure those with intellectual and physical disabilities receive respect, dignity, and loyalty from their peers. These athletes are capable of so much more than the stereotypes the world outside of Special Olympics portrays. They are individuals with caring souls, minds of determination, and the desire to be treated like the rest of us. They have given me the greatest gift I could ever ask for — inspiring me to have a voice and to see the strengths that lie within myself to be the best person I can be.

In return, I will do all I can to help keep this organization alive and well here in Delaware or wherever my path may take me. The athletes of Special Olympics deserve a chance to show the world all that they are capable of, as well as a chance to make friends, experience happiness, and most of all, succeed in all that they do.

Inclusion for All: Fact or Fantasy?

The following guest blog comes from Megan Clodi, a special education teacher at Mt. Vernon Township High School in Illinois. Mrs. Clodi is also the Director of Special Olympics programming at her school. 

Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and get ready to imagine a scenario. The scene begins with a gymnasium built in the 1930’s filled to the brim with rich high school basketball tradition overflowing with stories of championships won, hall of famers inducted, and decades of sweat and tears from losses and wins. Now listen to the thud on the caramel wooden floor of the cheerleaders landing their tumbling stunts. The drum line thunders their tune and the band strikes up a fight song. Every seat in Changnon Gymnasium is filled with students and teachers. When will the game begin? No Varsity Basketball game will be played right now at 9am on this brisk Friday morning. Instead, this is the scene at the Mt. Vernon Township High School school-wide assembly.

This assembly is unique because it is a RALLY . . . a rally to Spread the Word to End the Word! Mt. Vernon Township High School is a culturally diverse school located in the heart of Southern Illinois and comprised of roughly 1,300 students from 13 feeder schools. The campus sprawls 11 buildings on two full city blocks. Three times a year students come together for assemblies to celebrate student involvement and success in sports and in other extra-curricular activities. This particular assembly is similar but has a unique feature, one of which . . . SILENCE. Never before has the entire student body quieted themselves during an assembly.

A parent stands at the podium and explains how ALL of her children are competitive and participate in a wide array of activities . . . including her daughter, who has an intellectual disability. She shares how her other children feel and react when their friends use the R-word (retarded) in haphazard and derogatory ways. Subsequently, the School Resource Officer describes the Polar Plunge fundraiser to benefit Special Olympics and why he supports the athletes. Two students gather their guitars and play their original acoustic song that won first place in the Mt. Vernon’s Got Talent competition to benefit Special Olympics. Next, the student Editor of the Vernois Yearbook takes the microphone to issue a call to action for his classmates to stop using the r-word. A tall-framed woman with a familiar face steps to the microphone. This face is aired into homes during the sports segment on the local news. During her speech, she details that over her years of experience competing in sports and reporting sporting events, the athletes that have emblazoned a lasting impression on her heart is the MVTHS Special Olympics athletes. Lastly, a Special Olympics athlete bravely stands before his classmates and honestly opens up as he tells everyone that over the years he has been called retarded and routinely been made fun of. His feelings and raw emotion is bared for all to hear the pain he endured. At the end, he implores his classmates and all adults present to use helpful words instead of hurtful words . . . achingly to STOP using the R-word. Never has silence been so loud.

The SILENCE hangs thickly in the air until the basketball theme-music, “Put it on the Line”, plays over the sound-system as the team gathers in the lobby. The excitement builds and every single person jumps to their feet to clap. The starting line-up is announced and the team takes the floor. Which team? The first-ever MVTHS Special Olympics Basketball Team takes the floor and basks in the delight of the standing ovation. The team sets up on the floor and the ball is tossed into the air for the starting tip-off!

Now open your eyes.

Time to decide . . . is this fact or fantasy? How about at your school?

If it can be a reality at Mt. Vernon Township High School, it can be reality at your school, too!