Nakoda Elementary School held its first Inclusion Education Celebration on April 4 to honour special needs students.
“[It’s] to help give the special needs kids the self-esteem and self-confidence to know they’re different but special and everyone is different and special,” said Tracy Topolnisky, special needs educational assistant at Nakoda Elementary School.
The event was inspired by a drawing made by Jarelle, a special needs student in Grade 4 at Nakoda Elementary.
“Jarelle was sitting at the table and drew this picture of him and Brendal eating spaghetti and then we were like, ‘oh this could go on an anti-bully T-shirt’,” said Topolnisky.
The drawing was entered in an anti-bullying T-shirt design competition for anti-bullying day where it tied for first place.
“So, we ended up separating it into his own T-shirt for his own day,” said Topolnisky.
The school distributed a blue shirt with Jarelle’s drawing on it to every student and faculty member to wear at the celebration.
The celebration began with a prayer, followed by a drum circle led by the father of a special needs student who also participated in the drum circle.
The drum circle was followed by a presentation on uniqueness given by teacher Jody Wiggens.
“We’re all unique, we’re all different, and we all belong,” said Wiggens.
After the presentation, an animated short film, titled Ian, depicted a wheelchair-bound boy trying to play with others on a playground which served as a message about the importance of being inclusive.
Afterwards, Jarelle and Brendal were brought to the front of the gymnasium to talk about the drawing.
The event closed with everyone receiving a small cup of chocolate ice cream, a favourite of Jarelle’s.
Faculty members felt the event was successful and made a positive impact.
“It’s good for all the students to understand special needs.” said Topolnisky.
