Taking part in the Cook County High School Unified Club #Speakkindness day held January 16 were, from L-R: Claire LaVigne, Megan Myers, Marly Wester, Cameron Roy, Melissa Oberg, Anne Lynch and Hattie Meyers. Photo courtesy of Melissa Oberg
CCHS has had a Unified Club for the past couple of years, and the club has been very busy.
This past Wednesday the club took part in its second Speakkindness day, which is celebrated statewide.
Heading up the club at I.S.D. 166 is special education instructor Melissa Oberg.
“Students took a pledge to speak kindness and include,” said Melissa. “After the students pledged by putting their thumbprint on the banner, students were given kindness stickers. The banner will be hanging in our halls this school year as a reminder to always use Person First Language.
What is a Unified Club?
“Special Olympics Minnesota has an inclusive school program, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, which aims to foster inclusive relationships between students with and without disabilities,” Oberg said.
In Minnesota unified sports joins people with and without intellectual difficulties and places them on the same team. It came from a simple concept. Those who play together form fast friendships and deeper understandings of each other.
“The club participates in engaging and fun activities, creates inclusion campaigns, promotes physical health and brings people together to create and maintain relationships and self-esteem,” Oberg said.
According to the website, “Unified Clubs are unique school-based clubs designed around empowering youth with and without intellectual disabilities to promote social justice through a variety of athletic, social, and recreational projects and activities.
Each club is encouraged to design its own projects involving Unified Sports, Spread the Word to End the Word activities, Be a Fan campaigns, Fans in the Stands, volunteering, Polar Plunge teams, Special Olympics sports events in schools, etc.”
During its relatively short existence in Cook County, the Unified Club has raised funds to repair some of the schools DAPE (Developmentally Adapted Physical education) equipment that some of the students with special needs use for their Phy Ed classes.
Before the club came to the rescue, some of the physical education equipment had ripped seats and were still useable, but hadn’t seen refurbishments in a few years.
Kids have also taken part in Polar Plunges to raise funds so they can take part in outings like bowling events, and club members have attended the Youth Summit held at St. Thomas University, and participated in a Special Olympics Torch Run, to name a few of the activities.
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