On Friday, Sept. 6, Unified Champions will have its first meeting in the cafeteria during flex time. There will be games and other activities, club leaders say that “if you like board games or drawing or just hanging out with some amazing people, you should come.”
Unified Champions is a club to connect regular education students with students who have special needs. Too often, students with special needs miss out on opportunities to build friendships and participate in extracurricular activities, club leaders say. This club hopes to bridge that gap.
The club plans to expand its meetings this year and add additional activities to help club members connect — like playing basketball and other activities.
“The club provides a lot of inclusion for students in the J-wing,” functional academic classroom teacher Conner Jones said. “Through this club, the students get to hang out with other students on campus. I’m excited for all of the activities we are going to be doing.”
Club leaders plan to hold gatherings at football, volleyball and basketball games and attend other events like the dance performances.
“I’m excited to see how many kids show up,” Jones said. “We had quite a few coming last year, and I’m excited to see those numbers grow as more people become aware of the club.”
The club is open to everyone and anyone. The main goal of the club is to bring the school together. The J-Wing was created for special needs kids, but it is blocked off from the rest of the school. This club gives students with special needs a chance to make connections with students outside the J-Wing.
“I’m hoping the club is even better than last year,” Jones said. “Hopefully, we get even more inclusion and more connected. I think it will be similar to last year where we are having fun no matter what.”
If students are interested in becoming a leader in the club, they can attend a leadership meeting. Reach out to senior Joey Shanks at [email protected] if you are interested in joining the leadership team.
