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Date: 3/10/2022
WILBRAHAM – On March 6, Minnechaug Regional High School hosted a Unified Bocce Tournament for the Special Olympics. This tournament was co-sponsored by the Special Olympics of Massachusetts with the Massachusetts Association of Student Councils (MASC).
This year at Minnechaug, five different student councils from around the state came together to compete for unified bocce. The teams included Chicopee High School, Greenfield High School, Oakmont Regional High School and Ware High School. RC Mahar Regional and Tantasqua Regional were fans in the stands cheering. Bocce is known as an Italian bowling game. It has grown in popularity in Special Olympics programs globally and is the third most played sport among Special Olympics athletes.
Assistant Principal/Co-Advisor of Student Council Heidi Drawec said, “Our philosophy in education is inclusion. The Student Council students have adopted the Special Olympics sayings to ‘choose to include’ and ‘inclusion revolution.’ Instead of looking at a student and saying ‘wow that person has an intellectual disability,’ it’s that person may have a difference, but we’re all one community.”
She continued, “It’s a community builder, but it’s also teaching our students empathy and we have so much fun. We believe in inclusion in our schools. We have sub-separate programs that are in our classes, part of our school culture and it’s the fabric of us. That’s why we like to celebrate rather than separate.”
Minnechaug Regional High School was founded in 1959. The district serves the towns of Wilbraham and Hampden. The last time the school hosted the tournament was in January of 2020. They can only host the tournament for two years and then it goes to another school. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, they were unable to host the tournament last year, with this year’s tournament the school’s first event back since the pandemic.
Minnechaug made this year’s event a carnival theme. They had an Olympic village for their special Olympians and unified athletes packed with activities that any ability level could participate in, such as a ring toss and bean bag toss, as well as prizes that went along with it. At the end of the tournament, a medal ceremony took place.
Through this event, Drawec’s hope is that students will see how similar they all are and how much they have to celebrate being one community. By learning about each other, she explained, they have more of a chance of true acceptance. Drawec said this is one aspect their communities have been good at; recognizing the need to learn about each other in order to accept each other.