Kennedy High School’s Best Buddies and student government kick off Project UNIFY Friday

Students from Kennedy’s Best Buddy program and student government are participating in the fourth annual Project UNIFY.  Three major events are scheduled as part of Project UNIFY with the first scheduled Friday, January 27.  Year 4 Project UNIFY consists of a student forum, Spread the Word to End the Word campaign and a field day of Unified Sports activities.  The student forum will be held Friday January 27^th at the Sportszone in Hiawatha from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.  The purpose of the forum is to get students excited about interacting with each other and working together to promote the “Spread the Word to End the Word” campaign.  The field day will take place this spring.

Project UNIFY is a U.S. national project, funded by the U.S. Department of Education.  Its goal is to activate young people around the country in an effort to develop school communities where all young people are agents of change – fostering respect, dignity and advocacy for people with intellectual disabilities by utilizing the programs and initiatives of Special Olympics.

The purpose of the project is to help young people use their energy and enthusiasm to change attitudes.  They want students to:

• Imagine young people with and without an intellectual disability committed to making a difference in their schools and communities through Special Olympics.
• Imagine young people coming together with a dedicated purpose to acquire and enhance their knowledge and lead their peers, their schools and their communities forward.
• Imagine young people leading the charge to promote effective, safe and inclusive environments for creating and sustaining positive changes through volunteering and contributing to the improvement of their communities.

A second organized effort through Project UNIFY is Spread the Word to End the Word.  Spread the Word to End the Word  is a campaign created by youth, in an ongoing effort with Special Olympics and Best Buddies International, to engage schools, organizations and communities by raising the consciousness of society about the dehumanizing and hurtful effects of the word “retard(ed)” and encouraging everyone to stop using the R-word.

On March 7, 2012, youth are leading the fourth annual day of awareness to Spread the Word to End the Word by encouraging people to rally and pledge their support of the end of the use of the R-Word and replace it with RESPECT.