MISHAWAKA — Over 100 students joined together at the annual Special Olympics Unified Champions Day event this morning at Mishawaka High School’s Steele Stadium to create a space of community and inclusiveness for learners with special needs.
Student-athletes in grades K-12 from across all seven School City Mishawaka schools participated in a wide variety of athletic events including a footrace and hurdles with different heats, an obstacle course and other activities. The event is meant to foster community among students, said Matthew Johns, director of School City Mishawaka’s Exceptional Learners program.
“I think this is a great event for all students from our kindergarten through our young adult program that they can get out here and interact together,” said Johns. “We have general education students as well as exceptional learning students working together, creating a great environment and really working together as a community.” The event is part of the Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools program which promotes social inclusion by “bringing together students with and without intellectual disabilities to create accepting school environments” through sports, youth-led advocacy and whole school engagement in educational activities that promote inclusion.
The day’s student interactions that are fostered by the various activities are ultimately meant to translate to the classroom and help create a better developmental environment for students with intellectual disabilities. For School City Mishawaka, the annual event has impacted the classroom environment “very much,” Johns said.
“Kids are constantly talking to each other, high-fiving in the hallways,” Johns said. “I was just at John Young Middle School earlier this week and kids were excited and going into each others’ classrooms to talk about the event — what will take place and what events they were in — so that friendship connection that kids really deserve and need.”
For parents, the day’s events are a different kind of joy. Keishanda Lee, a mother whose son is diagnosed with autism and attends John Young Middle School, said the event is the “best day ever as a mom” to see her son be able to compete and participate in the day’s activities.
Lee said last year her son was very reluctant to attend but did eventually participate. This year, he was “excited and engaged.”
For students, the event can take on a variety of meanings.
Isabella Huston, a 14-year-old student at John Young Middle School, said the event builds confidence in the spirit of competition.
The event “means a confident feeling … I have been practicing a lot for this tournament,” Huston said. “I am really confident and happy to be here, and just really, really excited.”
Wyatt Redman, a fourth grader at LaSalle Elementary School, said the event was important because it allowed people with special needs to do “something fun” with many different people. Redman said his favorite event was the hurdles, in which he placed second in his heat.
Meral Farhan, a sophomore at Mishawaka High School who was a National Honors Society volunteer for the event, said her favorite part was “seeing all the kids smile.”
Kenny Townley, a Mishawaka High School alum who volunteered as part of School City Mishawaka’s Young Adult Services program, said that participating in the events as a student helped him “gain grounding” and make friends. Townley said that volunteering today allowed him to see old friends.
The Special Olympics Unified Champions Day event also featured a parade of all the student athletes walking behind Mishawaka Mayor Dave Woods, who carried a small ceremonial Olympic torch. Wood also gave a short opening speech.
“There have been a lot of great events throughout the years here in this stadium,” Wood said at the start of the ceremony. “But there is none more important than this one, and no more athletes more special and important than you.”
The event was hosted by U93’s Sean Willey, better known as Big Perm, who said the day was “an absolute blast.” Perm said today was his first year hosting the event, but he has attended this event in past years.
He said his favorite part of the event was getting to interact with the students one on one near the section of track in front of the bleachers.
The students “are so motivating for each other,” he said. Other students “cheering them on, hyping them up.”
At the end of the event, administrative members of School City Mishawaka, including Superintendent Theodore Stevens, participated in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is an older trend that recently made a small comeback in the public eye on social media. The challenge aims to spread awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — a neurodegenerative disorder that affects the nervous system and can cause muscle weakness and loss of motor control, eventually resulting in death, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Stevens nominated all elementary school principals within the School City Mishawaka district and School Board Secretary Mellissa Johnson nominated Holly Parks, president of the school board, to also participate in the challenge.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Special Olympics Unified Champions Day brings joy and connections at Mishawaka High
Reporting by John Forbes / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
