As she watched her daughter and her classmates parade across the field Thursday morning, Foxbank Elementary parent Lynn Adams said she got chills.
Thursday was a big day for 11 BCSD elementary and middle schools as they gathered at the Moncks Corner Regional Recreation Complex for the first-ever OneBerkeley United Games. The games made up a pretty epic field day event for the district’s students with special needs, their teachers, their “buddies” from the general education classes, and for visiting parents like Adams who came out to watch their children have a great time.
Adams’s daughter signed up as a buddy, helping her new friend have fun in a series of different activities on the field – like obstacle courses, kickball, hula hooping, bowling and more.
“This is a wonderful event,” Adams said. “It’s good to see the place that we call home have such a wonderful event for all the students, and just a lot of fun, great entertainment, music – and just to see all the kids getting active.”
Adams said she thought her daughter becoming a buddy would make for a good opportunity for her to connect with her schoolmates.
“She’s very excited about it,” she said from the sidelines.
The whole purpose of the OneBerkeley United Games is to promote connectivity between the district’s students with special needs and their friends from the general education classrooms. It was a chance for students to get outside of the classroom for a few hours, let loose and just have a lot of fun with classmates and teachers.
Michael Silvestri, first-grade teacher at Foxbank Elementary, served as the announcer. The event kicked off with the Berkeley High Honor Guard students doing the Presentation of Colors on the field. Students from Daniel Island School and Hanahan Elementary led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance and Foxbank Elementary students sang The National Anthem.
Next, in true Olympics style, student representatives from each school joined Keaun Thompson (School Resource Officer at Berkeley Altnerative and member of Moncks Corner Police Department) on the field as he lit the ceremonial torch to officially start the games; Silvestri informed onlookers that lighting the torch symbolized the “special memories, for years to come, as we cheer (the students) on today.”
Each school then paraded across the field to designated stations to start having fun playing different games and activities.
Adams said that sense of connectivity was evident as she watched her own child work with the rest of the Foxbank Elementary clan.
“Everybody is the same,” she said. “They’re all having fun, they’re all participating, they’re all holding hands and just smiling and laughing – it’s a beautiful day, on top of that.”
Adams said she is proud of her daughter’s commitment.
“It’s very important for her…to give back to the community at this young age, and just instill those certain values in her,” she said. “I’m extremely proud of her.”
Foxbank Elementary Principal Natalie Lockliear was one of the leading organizers of the event. She has a soft spot for students with special needs and said she finds it important to host events that are centered on them.
“We have so many other things that we do for so many other kids and it’s a great opportunity for them to come out and enjoy each other, and see other students from other schools and for parents to get out here and have the opportunity to mingle in the community that we live in,” she said.
Berkeley County School District had help from the Town of Moncks Corner to make the event happen; town officials did a number of things including bringing supplies, putting up tents in the evening prior to the event, painting the “OneBerkeley United” logo on the field, stocking coolers and overall planning, among other contributions.
Walmart donated a pallet of water; Kiwanis provided volunteers and ice cream for the event as well.
In addition to their peers serving as buddies, BCSD’s special services classes got a little extra help from student volunteers from Berkeley High, Hanahan High and St. John’s Christian Academy, who played games with the younger students.
A few Hanahan High baseball players were among some of the high school volunteers. Tenth-grader Landon Gomes and 11th-grader Camden Kackley were seen having a fun time with the younger grade levels.
“It’s a great day to make kids smile,” Gomes said.
The students said they enjoyed interacting with the different schools and seeing those connections continue to build.
“Everyone deserves the same chance,” Kackley said, “and everyone should be treated the same, no matter what.”
Be sure to check out more photos from the event, as well as video.
Monica Kreber
kreberm@bcsdschools.net
Original source can be found here.
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