During the week of March 3-7, the high school will be participating in Inclusion Week, a spirit week dedicated to spreading love and awareness for different disabilities.
Teacher Julie Haveman is one of the lead coordinators of this event alongside fellow educator Joslyn Fox. Haveman believes that this week will open the eyes of many students to the lives of persons with disabilities.
“The purpose of Inclusion Week is to raise awareness about the diverse needs of students with disabilities . . . It encourages students to develop empathy and understanding towards their peers who may have different learning styles or challenges,” Haveman said. “We want to emphasize that everyone, regardless of their abilities, has unique strengths and contributions to offer.”
Inclusion week is something that has never been done before at the high school. It is an exciting new opportunity for students to come together and recognize everyone’s diverse qualities.
The inspiration for this week came from the new Unified Basketball team that started up this year. Through the implementation of this team the coaches, Haveman and Fox, have gotten involved in other Unified events.
“This idea came from a Unified Basketball Conference that both Mrs. Fox and I attended this fall. Several area schools were in attendance and had similar events at their schools,” Haveman said. “It is significant because this is the first year that Northview High School had a Unified Basketball team and ultimately, the goal is to create a school community where everyone feels valued, respected and supported regardless of ability. It is also a time to reflect on how we can all be better allies to those with disabilities.”
Unified sports is an organization formed through the Special Olympics. The program has been implemented into over 10,800 schools across the nation with the main goal being inclusion.
“Special Olympics is dedicated to promoting social inclusion through shared sports training and competition experiences,” The Special Olympics website said. “Unified Sports joins people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team. It was inspired by a simple principle: training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding.”
Inclusion week will promote unity and understanding among peers with different walks of life. Fox understands this and believes that this week will create opportunities and growth for Northview students.
“My hope for inclusion week would be that all Northview high school students would have an opportunity to learn about disabilities in a positive way and deeply think about what it means to meaningfully include classmates who may access the world in a different way than they do,” Fox said.
Each day of the week will have its own theme to represent different disabilities and bring a sense of unity among students. This is a great opportunity for students to come together and show their support for one another.
“It’s going to be a great time,” Fox said.
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