Shelby High club aims to make the school more inclusive for students with disabilities
The students in Stetson Duncan's exceptional children class at Shelby High School are, according to their peers, some of the best to walk the halls of the school. But because of their disabilities, they haven't always felt the most welcome or included.
Over the last few years, a growing number of students have been working to change that.
"So this club started my sophomore year. We would go to Mr. Duncan's classroom during lunch, back when lunch was more normal and we had time to go around, and we would go and hang out with all of his kids and just get to know them, because they are off in a building away from everyone," said Eli Wilbanks, a senior member of Shelby's Unified Lions Club. "That was the goal of this club, to include the students of Mr. Duncan's class and make them feel welcome."
The club has made a difference in the lives of his students, Duncan said.
"I would say my students, especially, really enjoy being here," he said. "When they walk down the hall, people say hello to them, they know more of the students. It makes them feel more like they are part of the school."
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This week has been an especially busy one for the club. Members have planned activities for the rest of the student body.
On Monday, students in Duncan's class and the club wrote messages of encouragement on clothespins and pinned them to other students. On Tuesday, they wrote letters of appreciation to first responders, teachers and military personnel.
Wednesday, members of the club encouraged other students to take two pledges — one to more inclusive toward students with disabilities, and another to stop using pejorative terms normally associated with disabled people to describe people or things they dislike.
In exchange for taking the pledge, students were gifted with bracelets, backpacks, hats and sunglasses.
"We want to stop discrimination against special needs kids because often times other students look down on them, and that's not right because they are just as much a person as we are," said Wilbanks. "They are often times so much happier and so much more loving than we can be. Also, to include them. We want them to be part of the student body and feel welcome at school."
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Later in the week the Unified Lions Club had plans for a photo booth with members and kindness bingo, where students could win prizes for doing good things for others.
"I've had a few new people join in the past week. I would say we now have 30 or 40 members, that's students with and without disabilities," said Duncan.
Dustin George can be reached at 704-669-3337 or Dustin.George@ShelbyStar.com.
This article originally appeared on The Shelby Star: Shelby High School students pledge to be more inclusive with new club
