On March 7, senior Morgan Simmons and Basic Life Skills student Tyrone Glover got on stage to give a speech during a Special Olympics rally in Raleigh. According to Simmons, the speech was a testament to how working with Basic Life Skills students, such as Tyrone, has changed her life.
“The speech was a testimonial about how working with him and his classmates has affected me,” Simmons said. “It had a lot to do with what I learned from that. It’s about how well you love people because that’s what Tyrone taught me. It’s not about small things that we get caught up in. Tyrone is a good example of how to generally love people.”
Although Simmons was telling her story, Glover was able to put in his thoughts and make jokes, something he loves doing in and out of school.
“No matter what I would’ve said, Tyrone would’ve loved giving a speech,” Simmons said. “He loves the limelight. He was just glad to have the opportunity to get in front of people and speak. He loves to make people laugh. I think he enjoyed the whole experience.”
Glover and Simmons were brought together by a class called PEPI (Physical Education Pupil Instructor). Introduced by physical education teacher Jason Amy, PEPI is used as a way for students to become more involved with the Basic Life Skills class. The class teaches students how to promote an active lifestyle for students in younger grades and the Basic Life Skills class.
“At the beginning of the year, I watched the PEPI kids interact with the Basic Life Skills kids, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t think they can do this,’” said senior Mallory Storrie, who works with the Basic Life Skills class during her first period. “It just seemed so hard for them to grasp different moves…. I was so worried, but now they’re flourishing. They can do push-ups and jumping jacks, and they want to be there. I think it’s so good, not just for their physical health, but also their mental health. It encourages them to keep trying.”
PEPI also plans the annual celebration of the Special Olympics. Basic Life Skills teacher Carol Bartholf has enjoyed the awareness brought to her students because it has influenced them in a positive way.
“There are a lot of opportunities now that my students didn’t have many years ago when I started here,” Bartholf said. “[One is] an openness to a community-based education. Bringing back the Special Olympics to the Northwood community is another opportunity that is a nice change to see…. My students now have a new mindset with living a healthy lifestyle and exercising, and that’s been a positive change.”
The students have also been given the opportunity to take elective classes such as band and PE. Some students even participate in extracurricular activities. The other Basic Life Skills teacher, Kylie Finley, likes providing more chances for her students to be more involved.
“Josh’s favorite part of the day [is marching band],” Finley said. “Piotr is taking PE and next year we’re going to see if he can try dance because the teacher said she was fine with that. He’s on the track team and he has lots of friends—I think it’s really nice.”
When the Basic Life Skills students aren’t with the PEPI class or in their elective classes, they’re in the classroom learning. According to Storrie, they focus a lot on real-life skills, which is why it is called Basic Life Skills, rather than being referred to as special education.
“[The Basic Life Skills students are] learning how to count money, they’re learning to read a menu, they’re watching and trying to understand what’s going on in the news everyday,” Storrie said. “They’re learning real-life skills, which goes with the name. I think this will help them outside of school and in real life. Basic Life Skills is a class just like you have. Just like Math 1, it’s a class, not a type of person. Special education, it kind of identifies a kind of person, and they should be looked at as equal to us; they’re just in a different classroom.”
Storrie began working with Basic Life Skills this year, driven by a desire to know more the students in the class.
“I didn’t know much about them,” Storrie said. “I would be in their lunch and I saw them sitting at two tables. Nobody was interacting with them, and they weren’t interacting with us. I hated that. I wanted to talk to them and have them be comfortable with us…. I wanted to know who they were besides just saying, ‘Oh, they’re that class at the end of the school in the corner.’”
Despite the rise of integration between the Basic Life Skills students and regular students, Finley still believes there is room for improvement in the acknowledgement of her students capabilities.
“I know people who still say the R-word like it’s nothing or just say, ‘They can’t do that’ when they don’t really know,” Finley said. “Out of all the kids I have, I would say most of them could go out and get a job to support [themselves]. I don’t think [some people] look at it that way. They would see someone rocking in a corner and think, ‘He needs to be in an institution,’ when most of them are fine. They’ve been in the community so much. People are getting better, [they’re] just not quite there yet.”
Simmons has also seen progress.
“I think it’s getting better,” Simmons said. “I think especially in the past, obviously there hasn’t been a very positive look on kids with disabilities, but I definitely think people are starting to open their eyes and starting to see it’s not about what you can do, but who you can be. Not success-wise, but I think we’re starting to change the definition of success and starting to realize it’s more about happiness. It’s not about what you do but how you can love others.”
Storrie believes there is more to these students than meets the eye, and wants people to realize they’re just like every other student.
“Students at Northwood have something to learn from them, and I wish more people from Northwood would get that chance,” Storrie said. “I’m trying to do that now, but they’re just the same as us. They’re all different in their own, unique ways, but they’re still teenage kids, and they still live like us.”
– By Courtney Wolfe
