Here is a short video explaining the event. Watch it and see some awesome pictures that will make you feel the same way I do about this amazing experience! Thank you to all who helped make it possible and supported along the way.

Taneisha Esplin

suuspedactivity.blogspot.com

Student Leaders Help Integrate Special Education Students in to Social Atmosphere

Cedar City, Utah, December 12, 2015 – Student government officials from Cedar and Canyon View High Schools joined together to make the activity for special education students one to remember. Taneisha Esplin, a college student at Southern Utah University, set out to plan an activity for the students. The goal was to create a friendly and wholesome environment for the students to enjoy themselves. On December 11, 2015 many hands came together to help make the event possible and successful.

The event put on by Taneisha Esplin, of Cedar City, was inspired by the EDGE program at SUU. The EDGE program provides college students with the opportunity to reach beyond normal classwork. It allows them to create a project unique to themselves and their goals. The comprehensive projects performed make students more appealing to future employers and continued education institutions.

Taneisha was able to use this opportunity to participate in the EDGE program to plan and organize an amazing event. She used personal connections to previous educators in order to elicit the support needed to carry out the project. After receiving approval for the project and spending countless hours making her plan come to life, the day of the event arrived.

Student government officials were there to greet the special educations students. One student said, “Is this all for us?”  The interaction of the special education students was remarkable to watch as eyes lit up, smiles grew wider and laughter filled the air. One parent said of the event, “This is the highlight of my child’s year. You will never know what this means to me.” This spectacular event allowed for connections to be made among all of the students, as well as increase comradery between schools.

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Thoughts and Reflection

10/13/2015

The support that I received from both school’s administrators and other faculty staff has been fantastic. Each time I go to discuss various aspects it seems as though the faculty at Cedar High School is willing to do everything necessary to make this project idea a reality. Principle Dodds offered to let us use the school. Transportation for the students was provided by the district upon request.

11/11/2015

As we are closer to the event Honor Society members have offered to help with refreshments, as well as providing gifts for the students to help make their Christmas a better experience. The student governments are becoming very excited to be involved. It will be great to have them involved in order to incorporate peer interaction amongst all of the students.

11/15/2016

In order to create a more active and engaging environment as decision was made to move away from the ‘dance’ plan. Now the plan is to create more games and create more of a carnival feel. In discussing this with teachers this decision was made in order to make sure the special education students feel more at ease rather than having a distinct dance-like environment.

11/30/2016

While assembling games I have had to use a creative side that I was not sure existed. The craftiness necessary to make these games fun and inviting has stretched my ability to draw and paint. I believe these games will be fun and festive for the event.

12/11/2016

The involvement of the faculty, staff and students at both schools was fantastic. If the Honor Societies, Janitorial staff, teachers, advisors and student governments had not helped out, the event would not have had the effect that it did on the lives of these students.  The smiles of the special education students’ faces made all of the stress and long hours painting and gluing worth it. They were so happy to see the decorations and knowing that all of this and all of the students were there to make sure they had a good time. Some of the students were more comfortable than others. A few of the special education students were very involved, while others felt more comfortable staying toward the outside and talking to one another or in smaller groups rather than participating the activities and games as much. It was interesting to see the various personalities in the classes and the different things that attracted attentions.

About

I planned and put on an activity for the special education students at both Cedar High School and Canyon View High School. The event was in December 2015 prior to winter break at Cedar High School in the upstairs portion of the main gym. It involved the special education students from both school’s as well as student government and honor society members of both schools. These students were there to better help integrate the special education students into the social environment of the schools. I discussed this idea with various faculty members of each school in order to ensure its success and approval. There were games, prizes, food and music to be enjoyed by all involved in the activity. I am doing this activity in order to promote involvement and a sense of community for the schools which this activity benefits. I have been a beneficiaries of community involvement throughout my life-time; I believe I can bring that sense of community to these students who often feel left out of community linked activities, which will make them feel as though they can join in and continue to be involved, as well as create new friendships within their small communities.

Strengths 

I consider myself to be an organized person and able to accomplish things when I set my mind to them. I am a self-starter, which allows me to accomplish many things without the need of an outside influence. I speak to people with effectiveness and am able to communicate ideas and other necessary things, such as plans. Though, I tend to be quite reserved and may not have a desire to talk and interact with others, I am a friendly person, when need be and I am able to make other people feel included in various activities. I have also helped plan and have a similar even while I was in high school, which will hopefully allow me to improve and reflect upon past experience to make this event an enjoyable experience for everyone involved.

Weakness

I do not go out of my way to make friends, however with this activity I will need to approach people and ask them about themselves and essentially make friends with them.  I will also have to convince administrators and parents that this is a good and beneficial activity by proposing the idea and explaining, in detail what it is we plan to do for this activity and explain benefits of enhancing the student’s community involvement. Time constraints are always a difficult thing as a college student. However, making this project a priority and scheduling time for it will help us be able to make this is highly enjoyable and beneficial activity for these students.

Budget

Item	Cost ($)
Prizes	-$35.00	Pencils, erasers, coloring books, crayons, bubbles, glow sticks (40 prizes)
Food	0	donated by CHS honor society
location	0	donated by CHS administration
transportation	0	donated CVHS administration
decorations	0	No cost necessary as supplies are already in my possession
games	-$27.95	paper, wooden dowels, rings, boxes, milk jugs etc.
Invitations	-$21.79	Copies and prints of invitations
Gas	-$15.00	Transportation to organize and attend event
Personal Savings	+$100.00	Personal savings
Total	+$0.16

Timeline

October 13, 2015: discuss with faculty of CHS and CVHS for approval of the activity.

October 15, 2015: secure a location for the activity

November 11, 2015: Provide details as to various games, food and times to administrators as CHS and CVHS

November 1, 2015: Purchase prizes to hand out for games at the activity from the dollar store. ~ 40 prizes

November 19, 2015: Finish creating invitations and have them copied. Attach a letter to the invite to inform parents of our plans on the specified date

November 20, 2015: Deliver invitations to Mrs. Bulloch and CVHS and Mrs. Beckstead at CHS, so as they can give them to the students so their parents are aware of what is happening at school

December 1, 2015: E-mail/talk to Mrs. Bulloch to ensure that transportation (vans) have been arranged to transport the students from CVHS to CHS.

December 7, 2015: Assemble games to be played at the activity (pin the arrow on cupid, corn hole, milk jugs, dowels for ring toss)

December 7, 2015: Make decorations for the dance (cut out snowflakes, snow man mural)

December 8, 2015: Verify what treats pro-start is providing and double-check to see if we need to prepare anything food related

December 10, 2015: make any food that needs to be made before activity

December 11, 2015: 11:00 am - set-up decorations

                              12:30 – set-up music through speaker system at CHS, place food etc.

                              1:00 – activity begins

                              2:30 – activity ends/clean-up decorations and food

December 11, 2015: write thank you notes to all those involved in helping us with our project.

December 11, 2015: deliver/mail thank you notes                                 

Community Involvement

A community is a group of people who reside or dwell in an area. A sense of community is a feeling of involvement based on commonalities within a group of people. This sense of community can often be difficult to achieve in any group of people. However, it is even more difficult if there are fewer commonalities within the group. I have found in my life that a shared experience often brings people together and allows them to create friendships with one another. This shared experience builds a sense of safety and involvement allowing people to enjoy one another’s company and feel a sense of community. We plan to provide this activity bringing groups of people who don’t interact on a regular basis to enjoy an experience together and hopefully build a sense of community between schools as well as a stronger bond within each school.

Why this Project...

I plan on studying occupational therapy. Occupational therapy is a field that quite often works with children who have difficulties performing everyday tasks. This often includes special education students. In this project I will be exposed to special education students and learn more about them, how they think, feel and react in certain situations, particularly social situations. I will also be able to better understand how to engage them and make them feel comfortable. It is also necessary to be able to communicate and work with parents and guardians of these children in order to ensure proper progress in order to benefit the child. We will be involving parents, as far as they would like to be in order to create a safe and enjoyable environment.