by David Hill
Editor
What’s Unified Special Olympics? Why are students without disabilities competing against students with disabilities?
Monday, May 22, Kelsey McLean, health careers teacher and advisor, and Austin Fellman, Lincoln High School senior, appeared before the Board of Education to update the Board of Education on efforts to create and maintain a Unified Champion School chapter at Lincoln High School.
McLean said about three years ago she started getting involved with Special Olympics. She said she was asked if she wanted to be involved in making Lincoln High School a Unified Champion School. She said she didn’t know what it was. She said it has afforded staff and students with a lot of new opportunities.
According to the Special Olympics website, “The Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools program is aimed at promoting social inclusion through intentionally planned and implemented activities affecting systems-wide change. With sports as the foundation, the three component model offers a unique combination of effective activities that equip young people with tools and training to create sports, classroom and school climates of acceptance.”
McLean said she received a lot of support from administration. That support allowed her to teach two Unified Physical Education classes. The classes filled quickly.
Unified sports include many different activities including bowling, horseback riding, power lifting, swimming and track and field. McLean shared that they learned a lot about bocce ball and even had three groups qualify for State, but they didn’t go. McLean said she was caught off guard, and will do a better job of planning next year.
It’s all about fun and inclusion. McLean admitted to believing that students wanted medals, but learned that to the kids, it’s about inclusion and they really didn’t care about medals.
Recently, Thief River Falls hosted a track meet where 11 schools and 225 students competed. McLean said it was a really good day.
After three years, McLean said there’s a little less funding from Special Olympics. She said they’ve been doing some fundraising and because it has received a great deal of support from the community, it has a healthy budget.
Being a Unified Champion School has also opened other opportunities – opportunities for students to be involved in leadership.
Austin Fellman, a senior at Lincoln High School this year, started getting involved in leadership opportunities three years ago. Eventually, Fellman became a youth ambassador, a unique and impressive role. There are 30 youth ambassadors in the United States. Fellman and a student from Bemidji are two of those 30 ambassadors. This has afforded them the opportunity to gain new leadership skills, and travel to Washington, D.C., New Mexico and speak before groups, and visit with legislators to influence legislation. Fellman will be a youth ambassador through August 2024. He plans to attend Concordia College in Moorhead this fall.
McLean said she will be offering a new program this summer. It’s open to 15 students with disabilities and 15 students without disabilities. It will be solely student led. McLean said she will act as a monitor. The spots for 15 students without disabilities are already filled.
Michelle Westerman, a member of the Board of Education, thanked them for their effort and said, “It’s amazing what you’ve done and accomplished.”
Chairman of the Board, Ryan Walseth, asked how many Unified Champion Schools are in Minnesota.
McLean said it’s her understanding that there are 272, but that it’s fairly new in the northwest region of Minnesota. She noted that it has been an amazing experience.