Statewide Health Improvement (SHIP) funding 'belongs' with our students, in our schools
(4/16/15)Jackson Middle School (JMS) in Champlin has a pretty impressive program going, which brings special needs and mainstream students together once a week for games, a little bit of learning, and best of all — friendship.
“We want students to make friends in and out of school,” said Diane Therrien, the special education coordinator at JMS and adviser to the Targeted Services program, cleverly dubbed iBelong. “And with graduation parties, spring and summer celebrations just around the corner, I thought it would be useful to teach our special needs students the basics of playing yard games so they would feel comfortable in all social situations.”
But there was a problem. Therrien and iBelong didn’t have any lawn games. So she turned to another impressive program that provides funding for student wellness initiatives to schools located in Hennepin County, just like JMS, called the Statewide Health Improvement Program, or SHIP.
Jennifer Gilbert, Anoka-Hennepin Schools SHIP coordinator and Community Wellness Specialist, said the physical and active play aspect of Therrien’s lawn game idea tied in perfectly with SHIP funding specifications. “Out of all of the SHIP initiatives that I have worked on this year, this one is probably my favorite,” Gilbert explains. “It brings tears to my eyes.”
In all, Gilbert and Therrien helped iBelong purchase a collection of yard games, including ladder ball, a life-sized Connect Four board, bocce ball, curling, Frisbee golf and beanbag toss boards. They both presented the new games to the 60 iBelong student members on April 13, unveiling each one and demonstrating to the students how to play.
“They are such good kids and I’m happy that we can provide these opportunities for the,” Therrien says.