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he 2019-2020 Project Unify Club members took this group photo last year. (Submitted photo) -
Brooke Puffer and Layla Herbert with Project Unify work together to wrap a present. (Submitted photo)
White County Middle School’s Project Unify club recently helped achieve a first in Georgia.
WCMS just became the first school in the state to be recognized as a Special Olympics National Unified Champion School, says Julie Collins, club sponsor and seventh-grade ELA teacher.
A Special Olympics Unified Champion School is one that “exhibits a sense of collaboration, engagement and respect for all,” according to the Special Olympics website. The middle schools’ Project Unify was started in 2016 as a way to be inclusive for all students.
“When I taught special ed, I noticed a lot of students didn’t have social interaction outside the students they’re in class with all day long,” Collins says. “So I wanted to create some kind of club and activity so that any student – it could be with or without a disability, boy or girl, it didn’t matter – that we could all just get together once a month after school, do team building.”
WCMS Project Unify has participated in different campaigns, as well as Exceptional Children’s Week and more. They also prepare for Special Olympics.
“I train my students without disabilities to be buddies for Special Olympics,” Collins says. “So we start at the beginning of the year, we develop those friendships, we develop that kind of a climate, so when they are at Special Olympics, they are truly buddies. It’s not someone just assigned to them.”
Last year Collins submitted an application for National Unified Champion Banner School recognition. For this, a school has to meet 10 standards, including unified sports, whole school engagement, leadership opportunities and more. However, because of coronavirus, that changed some of the club’s plans for last year.
“A lot of the things we had planned for this year we didn’t get to finish because we didn’t get through, but they looked at previous data and things we had done throughout,” Collins says.
Collins said the biggest thing the club added last year was a more physical component. To do that, they partnered up with the Kids in Super Shape (KISS) Club at the middle school.
“They came and the last two meetings we had, her and her club instructed them on, they did dancing movement, so we added that movement with KISS Club and they love it,” Collins says. “They had so much fun, and again that’s more opportunity for inclusion.”
Other recognitions are also considered in the application. In November 2019, Georgia Special Olympics named WCMS a mentor school for Unified Champion Schools.
“I had a lot of teachers from other counties and areas [who] would e-mail me asking how do you start this up. We were just a mentor program to help guide other schools to develop their programs,” Collins says.
Collins learned Aug. 21 that the school had been recognized as a National Unified Champion Banner School.
“They told me we were the first school in Georgia ever to get it, so that was exciting.”
Collins says there are currently 518 schools in the nation that have received this recognition and 155 were added for this year.
“Our Project Unify is an amazing group of students and teachers,” said WCMS Principal Kristi Gerrells. “I am so very proud of all they have been able to accomplish. The work that they are doing is bringing a lot of attention to the positive ways WCMS works to include and involve all students. Mrs. Collins has worked with the Project Unify club since it was established at our school. She goes the extra mile for her students to get them the recognition they deserve.”