ELMORE, Ohio — A loud crowd goes hand-in-hand with the Woodmore High School gym on Fridays.
These students weren't rooting for their basketball or volleyball teams this time. Inclusivity was the name of the game as they cheered on a group of students with disabilities playing kickball.
"We're not judging them or nothing," Edmina Hintz, WHS' 7th-12th grade intervention specialist, said. We're being patient, we encourage them to do their best. This is the first time that all eyes are going to be on them. We have been practicing for a couple of months."
Students with disabilities were partnered with other students and gave it their all on the court as cheerleaders and fans made it an authentic sporting event experience.
The goal was to give this group of students, who tend to be isolated from the rest of the student body, a chance to see that they are just as much a part of the school community as anyone else.
"They want to do the same things that all of the other students want to do. They might do it a little bit differently ... but they get just as excited about playing a kickball game as some of our other students would get," WHS Principal Nolan Wickard said.
The game capped off the High School's Disability Awareness Month Spirit Week, an initiative proposed by the Woodmore National Honors Society to give the students a chance to shine and show everyone that inclusion is a core part of the student body.
"Showing them that there's nothing to be afraid of and that just because they're a little different doesn't mean that they aren't able to do the things that we are able to do. They're capable of making friends and capable of being involved," said Woodmore NHS VP Alayna Hahn
"Sometimes it's difficult for them to have a lot of friends," Hintz said. "So, we want to highlight that they do have friends, they are included in the class, they are included in everything that we do here at Woodmore."
Spirit Week will wrap up on Sunday when the NHS here will be hosting a three-on-three basketball event,with proceeds raised benefiting the local Christy's Corner which employs people with disabilities.