MANY STUDENTS love being active in the school and included in extracurricular activities. Students in resource classes often need accommodations, though, which makes it difficult for them to participate in sports. Although, when there is an opportunity given to a resource student, it is responded to with enthusiasm. These students can then enjoy the benefits of the Granger athletic facilities and have new experiences. 

People of our community look up to our student athletes for including our own resources students. However, these students don’t get to witness a lot of what these athletes do because some restrictions. Resource students here at Granger love to be involved with the crowd and joining a sport would guarantee that, therefore a couple of these students have taken on the challenge. These students look up to other student athletes and would love to be a part of the social aspects of sports. 

“A lot of my students would enjoy and excel in many sports, but these sports would need to adapt to their needs and schedules,” Mrs. Case said.  At Granger, we pride ourselves on helping one another get better, whether it’s at school or in sports. Other athletes often befriend everyone, including the few SPED students. Tiger Laita (11)  has met a few students with disabilities and says he is proud and looking forward to being on the team with them this coming season. 

“The students that aren’t involved in sports still love being active and enjoy our adapted PE teacher that comes in once a week,” Mrs. Shylah said. She says a lot of her students also enjoy simply walking the track, “anything that lets them be active and included, they enjoy,” Poirier said.

These students are very interested in sports, especially at Granger. So much so that some resource students even joined sports here at the school, one of those sports being track and field. Phellip Ngin (10) runs track and says it’s really fun but gets challenging sometimes. “The hardest part is being tired because of going so often,” Ngin said.  He also states that although he struggles a lot, other athletes are always there to help him if needed. 

Although the resource students are interested in sports, most do not attend. These students are not able to attend for numerous reasons, one being that their accommodations wouldn’t be met in the environment of a game. Some SPED students have needs that need to be me, and unfortunately that makes it difficult for them to enjoy school activities like going to sports games. “I don’t go to games but I like watching basketball,” Arohn Brooks said. 

It is unfortunate for these students that want to be apart of the social aspects and more included but can’t or aren’t. SPED students could be playing amongst other students if the rules were different or could be more accommodating. “Giving our resource students an opportunity like being able to play with or on a team would give them confidence and a bump of self esteem,” said Coach Paula.