en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 04:56:25 GMT 15 By Kristen West
“We’ve got spirit, yes we do! We’ve got spirit, How about YOU???” The Fairborn High School Spirit Squad is a chance for the special needs students to be involved in a sport. What is the Spirit Squad? It is a cheerleading squad Miss Julie Wright, Cheer Advisor, started when she found out one of her special needs students wanted to cheer. Wright is the special needs teacher at Fairborn Baker Middle School. She is the most involved in the Spirit Squad as far as coaching and working with the girls, and she is the one who has made this possible. Wright also wants to be involved in helping the other schools start their own Spirit Squad. The Special Needs Teacher Mrs. Kelly said, “These girls are no different than any cheerleader and they love the chance to practice and cheer at games with the rest of the girls.” Spirit squad cheerleader Katie Lynn stated, “My favorite cheer is Go Big Blue!” She also said, “I like wearing my uniform on game days, it makes me feel pretty.” All can see that she is enjoying this opportunity and that she loves cheerleading with the girls. Also having the three Spirit Squad girls Katie Lynn DuBois, Kaitlynn Wolfe, and India Cool are a positive experience for the varsity, freshmen, and junior varsity squads. Varsity Cheerleader Alex Hauenstein said, “This has taught our squad to be more open minded, and that it has made me realize that you can always get around your differences and succeed in whatever you want to do.” In Tipp City, they have their own spirit squad member and started a spirit squad at their school. The girl on their spirit squad however does not attend practices with the other girls on a regular basis. At their first game, she was only involved in one chant while sitting in the stands in her uniform, not on the track with the other girls. Hauenstein stated, “Having the spirit squad girls around is fun, they aren’t any different, but they do get in the way sometimes, so you have to look out for them.” The cheerleaders and coach Wright are working to help other schools learn how to deal with having a spirit squad and including their special needs students in all aspects of their schools. ]]> Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:32:00 GMT