When you think of inclusiveness what's the first thing that comes to your mind? For most, it would be including others, while for those in education the thought goes straight to including those with disabilities into general education settings. If one of these is your first response then you are partially correct. When talking about inclusiveness, we're talking about being fully inclusive. That means all being accepted, no matter the challenges or differences they might bring.

             Over the past twenty years, research has shown the importance of inclusion within the classroom. Not only do students with disabilities benefit from inclusiveness, but also students without disabilities. The inclusion process over the years has taught students understanding and acceptance of each other and to appreciate each other for who they are. But why stop with the classroom, why not expand our understanding of inclusion into more areas within the school? Why can't we expect students with disabilities to be in leadership roles? Why shouldn't we expand the thought of inclusion beyond the classroom? These thoughts drove this research and deeper learning process/experiment. 

            When this project started many students really didn't know what inclusion meant or thought that their peers with disabilities could be leaders or on equal par with themselves. Many students were understanding that the students with disabilities were those kids in special classes and at times in their class, but they never truly saw them. They never saw their potential or how they can be leaders in their own right. This process not only showed the students without disabilities the potential of their classmates, but also encouraged those with disabilities to strive for more opportunities. 

           This Deeper Learning Process was about bringing inclusiveness into our school. When we're talking about inclusiveness, we're talking about finding ways to bring both students with and without disabilities together in all settings. The first steps in this process was meeting up and learning about Unified Champions (Special Olympics). Through the process of meeting them, a grant was applied for to make our school a Unified Champion School. To become a Unified Champion school we had to promote inclusiveness not just in the classroom but in daily activities and school sponsored events.  The main question is what is a Unified Champion? It is creating a climate within the school that promotes the sense of collaboration, engagement, and respect for all students and staff. It also lets others know that even though we have differences, our similarities are more powerful and brings us together as a community that strives on understanding and respect. 

  Unified Champions through the Special Olympics has been around for sixteen years. The Special Olympics began in 1968 in Chicago, by Eunice Kennedy, who was trying to promote inclusion through social inclusion for those with disabilities to participate in sports. Unified Champions was designed to build a fully inclusive environment within the school. The program is for schools Pre-K through university that intentionally promotes meaningful social inclusion by bringing together students with and without intellectual disabilities to create accepting school environments, through 3 components: Unified Sports, Inclusive youth leadership, and whole school engagement. Currently over 9,000 schools nationally are considered a Unified Champion School. While just under 100 schools in Kentucky hold this recognition. Out of those 100 schools in Kentucky, only two schools in Fayette County have gone through the process to become a Unified Champion School. Those two schools are The Learning Center High School and Henry Clay High School. 

  Unified Champions research has shown the impact of having more inclusiveness within the school has dramatically changed the school environment. Students who participate in a Unified Champion school have felt more supported by the teachers, peers, and administration. They have also developed a higher level of grit (in passion and perseverance), academically doing better, and were more empathetic and compassionate compared to students who did not participate in a Unified Champion school. Other things that have come from having a Unified Champion school was there was less bullying, teasing, and use of offensive language within the school. Participation in school activities during and after school increased by 95% for students with disabilities. The program not only increased participation for those with disabilities but also those without. 100% of teachers in a Unified Champion school stated that this process eased the transition for students going from middle school to high school. It brought a sense of belonging, building relationships, and provided flow for students over the years. Another thing that was noticeable about an Unified Champion school was the 86% increase in attendance by students with disabilities and a 83% increase for those students without disabilities. Finally, 89% of teachers involved with Unified Champions made them feel more confident working with diverse populations of students. 

          In obtaining our status as a Unified Champion School, our school had to promote inclusiveness in youth leadership, unified sports, and whole school engagement. The process of Unified Champions is that students with and without disabilities come together as a team. During this past school year, many of our students with disabilities have joined the school's Leadership Team where they were helping with food donations, collecting hygiene products, working with Chick-fil-A leadership group, giving a tour to a group of Denmark students, planning prom, reading to elementary students, and many other ways. They were also helping out with morning announcements, joining a robotics team, wood-shop,  gardening and many other extracurricular activities. 

         During this school year, we got the opportunity to work with the Special Olympics on several occasions.  Members of the Special Olympics organization came to our school twice to hold inclusive events.  The inclusive events teamed a student with disabilities with one without as partners to compete against other teams. The first event was a corn-hole championship. We had twelve pairs of students competing to be our school's corn-hole champion. Another event we competed in was learning Bocce Ball. Majority of our students never heard of this sport and were very eager to learn and attempt it. By the end, many of the students were requesting that we start a Bocce Ball team at our school to compete against others. Finally, our school got the amazing opportunity to participate in a Leadership Summit that was put on by the Special Olympics. We took six teams of students to this summit and they had the amazing opportunity to participate with their partners in leadership activities. While there they also got to meet students from other school districts who are promoting inclusiveness as well. During this time, we as a team collaborated together on creating a plan to continue our inclusiveness for the next school year. The students themselves were the ones developing our next steps and how to get there.

        This is a process that will continue on into the next school year and thereafter. What this deeper learning experience has taught our students and staff is that you never know who can be a leader until given the opportunity. The main thing that we learned about each other is that we each have skills that we can bring to the table and to never underestimate anyone just because they may or may not have a disability. The students also learned how to collaborate and communicate with each other not just as peers but as partners with a common goal. There were several reasons that this process was started. The first one being teaching the students to accept each other for who they are not for what they are. Also, to encourage all students to strive and reach for what other or themselves may think is impossible and to never give up, no matter how hard it might be. Finally, the sooner we teach our children to learn acceptance and understanding the sooner they will be able to see past the differences. Seeing past these differences is crucial not just now, but for the future. These children not only go to school with each other now, but in the future they will be possible colleagues. If they know how to accept it now then they will be able to apply it in the future.