Number of Participants: 85
Hours Donated: 20
Value of Time Served: $14,365
Event Type: Children & Youth
Sport: Team
School: Sanford H Calhoun High School
Date: November 21, 2024
Location:
Calhoun High School
State Street, Merrick
NY
About:
The Bellmore Merrick Central High School District began its year with a district emphasis on community. Inspired by this, teachers at Calhoun High School created an initiative called Calhoun Connections. This initiative seeks to promote inclusive opportunities for all students, beginning with the unity of their athletic program. Through this initiative, Varsity, JV, and Challenger athletes are working to partner together on various athletic and community experiences. This has helped form countless new peer relationships between students of all abilities and has promoted more inclusive experiences to the Calhoun community as a whole.
One of the Calhoun Connections clubs is called Recreation Club, where students with disabilities partner weekly with Varsity and JV teams to work on athletic skills. The collaborative goal of the coaches and club advisors is to have all students form new peer connections while developing and practicing skills through sports. So far this year, the club has worked with Varsity and JV Girls Soccer, Varsity and JV Girls Tennis, Varsity and JV Boys Volleyball, JV Girls Basketball, and Varsity Kickline. Recreation Club has brought an astounding number of over 85 Varsity and JV athletes together with over 50 students with disabilities. The club will continue its partnerships with more Calhoun athletic teams in the winter and spring seasons.
Another inclusive experience furthered by Calhoun Connections, was the Challenger Soccer season this fall. Students in the Calhoun Challenger sports program participate in their own self-contained sports league, playing various teams on Long Island in soccer, basketball, cheerleading and track. This year, both the Varsity and JV Boys and Girls Soccer teams were a major support system for the Challenger Soccer team. Varsity and JV athletes assisted at Challenger practices and came to cheer on and volunteer at all of the Challenger games, serving as mentors for their peers on the Challenger team. Students formed such amazing relationships that have since carried beyond the Challenger soccer season. Challenger athletes were even able to attend the Varsity Girls Soccer playoff where they rooted for their new friends with posters and a huge cheering section. These three teams brought together over 40 soccer players of all abilities for a successful and spirited soccer season.
Another shared experience for Calhoun student athletes occurred when Varsity and Challenger athletes joined the Special Olympics organization who hosted a Unified Sports Summit at Jericho High School. Six Varsity athletes and five Challenger athletes represented Calhoun alongside participants from ten other districts. Students had the chance to hear presentations from different schools about how they bring inclusion into their communities. They also took part in various hands-on activities designed to reflect on their leadership skills and foster connections with students from districts. The day inspired the student-athlete representatives, sparking creativity and motivation, and they
returned to Calhoun with numerous inclusive ideas to share with the larger Calhoun community.
In fact, these connections are naturally extending beyond athletics, as demonstrated this year by the student DECA participants selecting Challenger Sports for their community service project. Additionally, this December, these students have joined together for a good cause by supporting the district Community Cupboard. Through December they will be collecting and inventorying donations that they will present directly to the Superintendent before the holiday break. What started as one message and one initiative has since touched hundreds of lives. Most exciting, however, is that the journey of connection and community is only just beginning!
