By: Sarah Steele

Teachers are bringing much more to the classroom than just the curriculum. They are teaching students to learn to respect one another, despite their differences. At the Project UNIFY® Fall Summit held on Saturday, Nov. 5, 46 schools with more than 170 students and teachers came to learn more about Project UNIFY® and how they can spread the word, to end the "R" word in their schools.

Special Olympics Project UNIFY® is an education-based project that uses sports and education programs to activate young people to develop school communities where all youth are agents of change, fostering respect, dignity and advocacy for people with intellectual disabilities. Michigan currently has 53 active schools ranging from K-12 students to Creative Art Academies. The belief of Project UNIFY® is that young people are not just the leaders of tomorrow, but they can be leaders today in their schools, their communities and around the world. They focus on the "Spread the word, to end the word campaign", removing the word "retarded" from students vocabulary, and replacing it with respect.

"I love it," Darius Holt, Junior at Pershing High School said. "It helps people learn to respect one another. "Darius keeps a 4.0 GPA and plays basketball and football. This is his first year being involved with Project UNIFY®. Darius wowed students and teachers as the conference was wrapping up when he sat down at a piano and played for everyone.

Project UNIFY® began in select Detroit Public Schools three years ago. The whole program in Detroit is student led, to focus the events and campaigns at the student level. Teachers and students that have been involved in the program demonstrated an "R" word rally at the summit and explained the involvement that goes into Project UNIFY® and their campaigns. Every school that is part of Project UNIFY® is required to host an "R" word rally by the spring of 2012.
Robin Bush is a teacher at Al Holmes, which is a pre-K through 8th grade school. This is Al Holmes third year being involved in Project UNIFY®. Robin has led Team H.E.L.L.O. at her school, which stands for "Helping everyone learn to love others." This year the group's theme is "Changing minds, one person at a time."

"The first year there was only 10 special education students and 10 general education students," Robin said. "Now the whole school made the shift to get involved."

Mike Bovino, Unified Sports Consultant for Special Olympics Maryland, was another special guest who spoke at the Summit about how far Special Olympics has evolved and all the benefits Project UNIFY® offers. Mike compared Unified Sports to a varsity team: they need to be structured, they require practice, they need a quality coach and good competition.

"You guys are the game changers," Mike said. "There are no ceilings, only possibilities."

In the afternoon teachers went over the logistics of the program while students learned to be up standers in an anti-bullying class.

Three students from Park View Elementary School, Wyoming, Mich., came to the summit to learn more about Project UNIFY®. The Park View group took a pledge when getting involved with Project UNIFY® to never call people names and to respect one another. All three of the nine and ten year olds got involved with Project UNIFY® because they had experience playing sports and conduct good sportsmanship. Their first unified competition is a bowling event on Nov. 16.

"I'm excited because I get to meet new friends and have lots of fun," Kymburly Burhans, fourth grader at Park View Elementary said. "This is the best time of my life."

Click here to learn more about Project UNIFY®!

Click here for more photos from the 2011 Project UNIFY® Youth Summit.