Recent funding have been supporting the concept of Special Education [SPED]’s sports program to influence activities within school grounds for the SPED students to enjoy and interact amongst each other. The fundraiser Spirit Links helped raise money for certain programs supporting school related necessities.
This year it provided opportunities to those with intellectual disabilities to conduct positivity in the school sporting environment; giving a chance for SPED students to play sports within a program at the school, rather than after-school programs composing of weekends and late nights.
The AIA and Special Olympics had participated in a partnership program to provide high school sports for those with intellectual disabilities, called Unified Sports, as of last year. “[Spirit Link] Money will be raised to support the program and give our students of Special Education the chance to support teamwork, participation, and competition in a friendly manner,” Nora Boettcher stated thanks to StuGo’s implementation of the fundraiser.
StuGo accounts for the overall layout of Spirit Links and its contribution to SPED’s after-school objectives. When asked how StuGo conducted the idea, senior study body president Haley Cwiakala stated, “… Lindsay Heffron brought Unified Sports to our attention this year… We knew a lot of students were friends with the students in the SPED program, so they would want to donate.”
Donations had accumulated and the results were in: with Thomas Rothery and Garald DeGrow as the kings of Spirit Links funding. And teachers’ efforts can account for that contribution; a large amount of the contributions are teachers’ influences on their students to raise the money for this positive cause. “I emphasize the cause it’s going to to my students… before the class begins,” Thomas Rothery says, a key donor in the fundraiser. So small efforts such as emphasis on the subject and its cause before class begins can help with larger contributions to the program for SPED.
Nora Boettcher knows first-hand the impact of this program and the fundraiser supporting it. “It’s nice for them [the students] to be involved with sports within a program at school,” she states as most programs outside of school consist of larger payments and difficult participation times. Heidi Peek, another SPED advisor, sees the impact within her students. “…[Spirit Links] gives the students opportunities… and the diversity they need,” she says, as it is a powerful impact on the kids themselves.
Overall the competition of raising the most money succumbs to the actions influenced through the contributions, and they have a strong effect on the SPED students. The chance for our SPED students to enjoy after-school activities and sports really input a powerful cause for Spirit Links to support.
