On Thursday, Apr. 28, 2016, Unified Sports, with the support of Captains Council held their annual “Spread the Word to End the Word” assembly. The assembly was held in Malden High School’s Jenkins auditorium with the support of PACE teachers and students. Hosts Manuel Quesada Nylen, Melyssa Ferreira, Barbara Scibelli, and all other supporters/volunteers agree that the afternoon was a great success.
Unified Sports is a student-run class in MHS, that aims to unite student athletes both with and without mental disabilities. The assembly however, was about much more than that, it was about using athletics and other forms of competition to promote social inclusion. The assembly was held in the belief that participating in athletics is a quick and efficient way to build friendship and understanding.
When asked about what this event means to him, principal of MHS, Dana Brown stated that the event shows that “[MHS] walks the walk and talks the talk.” He also adds that “we say we’re respectful and we say we’re inclusive, and then we try to show it every day. It’s not always easy, it’s not perfect, but we try to show it” he continued. One of the hosts of the event, Barbara Scibelli stated that to her “[the event] shows the values at MHS, and that it is mainly about “acceptance, dignity and being kind” she continued. Brown also mentioned how MHS students can learn from seeing “regular education students interacting with special education students, and really caring for each other.”
Host Ferreira mentioned how “[some students] don’t know how to treat other people with disabilities, so [she] thinks this is the best way to practice that.” Ferreira also stated that “[she thinks PACE students] benefit from this because a lot of the [students] are shy at first, and [she thinks] they really open up to [students from Unified Sports] when they have a schedule every day where they see [them]...it kind of brings out that wild side in them, and [she really thinks] it helps them out with living in the real world” she concluded.
When asked about what this assembly/movement means to him, host Quesada Nylen stated that ¨the assembly introduces unified sports to students who might not take the class, and then the class itself, unified sports, it prepares students like [himself] to realize how lucky [he is] to have legs that function well, that [he has] a brain that processes things differently.¨ This event is always a success, and allows MHS to unite all students.
Photo by Tatum Skiffington.
