Sentinels United

Sentinels United, a club focused around including all students, regardless of physical and intellectual abilities, is continuing its first year strong. Ellie Schaefer, founder of the club, explained it’s going even better than she could have ever hoped! “We have a lot of people who are there at every single meeting. I was worried that no one would know about it, but we are starting to get more and more people involved,” Schaefer says. 

Meetings, which are held during advisory on Thursdays in the auxiliary gym, include many activities. “It’s mainly focused on teamwork. The general education students learn how to interact with students that are different and have different abilities, and the special education students have the opportunity to have a bigger social circle.” The activities definitely create a positive impact, especially on students who have special needs, creating a lot of special memories.

Sentinels United is planned to continue in the 2025-26 school year, with a new upcoming senior taking the reins. “The hope is that each year a Junior that is involved will take over the next year”

Circle of Friends, an after-school club geared towards inclusion at Ramstad, inspired Ellie Schaefer to start Sentinels United, after the teacher who ran the club passed away. Schaefer’s future plans in college are Elementary Education with a concentration in Special Education at Minot State University.

Students don’t just have to practice inclusion one hour a week, however, but every day at lunch and in the hallways. “It really is as simple as saying ‘Hi’ to them, asking how their weekend went, asking them to sit with you at lunch,” Schaefer explains. “It’s really important to use ‘Person First Language’. So for example saying ‘This student with autism’ instead of ‘The autistic student’. It’s important to realize these students really aren’t that different from us.”