Twice a year, Lead4Change hosts The Nationwide Lead4Change Project – a small grants program that showcases the growth of student leaders and funds their ideas for community impact. The Lead4Change program takes students on a journey of learning leadership skills through community service. After completing the curriculum, students share their story of growth and impact by requesting additional funding to continue or complete their service project. Each project addresses a community need and encourages students to develop a creative solution to support that need.
THS Students: Aubrey Padfield, Anthony Roe, Huston Albert
Educator: Tracey Waldeier
Project: Inclusion Isn’t Scary
Funding: $10,000
The Need: Aubrey, Anthony and Huston set out to make THS more inclusive by creating an opportunity for students of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to come together.
The Project: They created an opportunity within the school day where students of different backgrounds, talents, and abilities could interact together in a positive and meaningful way. Through this program, they were able to educate students in our entire school district (K-12) about the importance of inclusion. Chieftain Friends and Fun allowed students to visit different activity stations that were set up around the gym, similar to a field day. Each activity had differentiated ways that all students, regardless of their physical or intellectual ability, could participate; for example, with bowling, students could bowl freely or use a ramp for support. The bowling pins could also be arranged in different configurations for the different ability levels. Other activities included cup stacking, badminton, tennis, basketball, sensory bins, cornhole/bean bag toss, catch, and soccer. By playing games, all students could have fun and develop lasting friendships. The students hosted three different Chieftain Friends and Fun Days in November: one for the elementary school, one for the middle school, and one for neighboring high schools. Over 100 students with physical and intellectual disabilities participated in the events. In addition, over 200 peers and 35 teachers and staff members also participated.
The Result: Since this event, students have started a Unified PE class, which pairs students with and without disabilities together. They also started a monthly peer group of students with and without disabilities that meets to play inclusive board games and participate in other inclusive activities. Students with disabilities have more opportunities in which to participate since the inception of the peer education advocacy program, which increases equity for all. Lead4Change accepted their $10,000 proposal to continue to implement these events moving forward.
Congratulations and well done, Aubrey, Anthony, and Huston!
