More than 40 Cook County high school and junior high school students have joined the newly formed Special Olympics Unified Club. The program is run by students with high school counselor Kris Hoffman and CCHS teacher Melissa Skeate Oberg serving as adult mentors. A Unified Club combines students with and without intellectual disabilities to develop meaningful relationships, help spread the acceptance and ensure that everyone feels included and welcome in their school.
Quick, what is the biggest kids club in the county? Boy Scouts? Girl Scouts? Nope, it’s the Cook County Unified Club (CCUC) with more than 40 members strong and still growing.
Melissa Oberg, one of the adult mentors, said Cook County Schools was proud to be a Unified School.
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.
“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.
Maya McHugh, a junior who is the club’s treasurer, said she joined for a variety of reasons. One was to end bullying and to end the R word.
“I want people to think of Respect, not retarded when they talk about people with lower intelligence,” said McHugh. “We don’t want to lead them, we want to come along side them.”
The club is new, but already a flurry of ideas and activities have taken root.
“The club will participate in engaging and fun activities, create inclusion campaigns, promote physical health and bring people together to create and maintain relationships and self-esteem,” Oberg said.
On March 1, 2017 the State of Minnesota, by proclamation, celebrated “Spread the Word to End the Word Day” with a lighting of the 35W bridge that spelled out respect in red lights.
Even in its infancy, I.S.D. 166 school counselor
Kris Hoffman said the club has already sold 200 T-shirts at $10 each, with half of the cost of the shirts going to the club. Hoffman and high school math teacher David Liechty are the other two adult mentors on what Hoffman describes as “a very student led club.”
On Friday, March 24, the club’s 8th through 12th grade members will travel to the Youth Summit held at St. Thomas University in the Twin Cities. Both Oberg and Hoffman will drive the small bus, which will leave at 4 a.m. and return much later the same day.
“We will have a youth summit and leadership conference at St. Thomas in Minneapolis,” said Oberg, adding there will be a tour of the Special Olympics training facility.
The day will also include a presentation with CCUC receiving an official banner recognizing I.S.D. 166 as a unified school.
A big event coming up is the Special Olympics Torch Run. It will start in Grand Portage and end at the state capital. As it passes through Grand Marais CCUC members will run (or walk) with Cook County Sheriff Pat Eliasen, who asked the club to join him as he carries the torch through town.
“That was a big honor for us to have Sheriff Eliasen ask us to run with him,” Oberg said.
Law enforcement officers, state troopers, and other noted people will carry the torch one mile each on the torch’s journey to St. Paul. The run will take place either June 18 or June 19, said Hoffman.
“We are hoping to have our club at Java Moose where they can sell T-shirts and take part in the torch run,” Oberg said.
Who started Special Olympics?
In the 1950s and early 1960s Eunice Kennedy Shriver was deeply troubled when she saw that people with intellectual disabilities were treated with little justice. They were neglected, often placed in custodial institutions, ignored, discarded, kept out of the way from society.
But Eunice knew something most people didn’t know. She grew up with her sister, Rosemary, who was intellectually disabled. The two played sports together, they swam, skied, sailed, played football. Eunice knew Rosemary had many gifts, but few opportunities to cultivate those gifts. Eunice played sports in college and she saw sports as a bridge to unite people from all walks of life.
In 1962 Camp Shriver opened for young people with intellectual difficulties. By 1968 the first International Special Olympics Games were held in Chicago, Illinois.
Today Special Olympics programs take place in more than 170 countries. A vision of Eunice Shriver, who was inspired by her very capable sister, Rosemary, is still going strong today.
Leave a Reply