March is National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, an annual campaign established in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan to foster inclusion. At Fort Myers High School, the unified basketball team embraces the holiday.
And for one student, the meaning of the game starts with what he’s experienced outside the gymnasium.
“These regular kids will make fun of these other special needs kids,” Jarrell Pompilus said.
Inside the gymnasium, that kind of negativity is out of bounds. On Thursday, March 12, Fort Myers High hosted a unified basketball game, mixing students with intellectual disabilities who played, ran the boards, cheered and performed during halftime.
The school has hosted the game for 16 years and continues to expand. This year, the program collaborated with athletes from Thrive Academy, an educational center that supports students with autism. Garret Copeland, the Special Olympics coordinator at Fort Myers High, said the program has grown into a strong community.
“We've built a really inclusive community here at Fort Myers High School,” Copeland said. “There’s a lot of people that care, a lot of people that want to be involved and include our athletes, partners and students, and give them every opportunity that anybody else would get.”
Ryan Dwyer is one of those students. He first joined the program as a sophomore and is now finishing his senior year as a coach.
“It’s really made me meet people that I don’t believe I would have met otherwise,” Dwyer said. “They’re great kids. They deserve to be loved and respected, which isn’t always the case.”
Pompilus said that difference is easy to see.
“To me, in a way, he’s not like the regular kids who will make fun of another special needs kid,” Pompilus said. “He’s a kind person, in a way, and that’s the person I trusted to be on our team and be our coach.”
Dwyer said he has also been impacted by the experience.
“It’s really made me more patient and understanding,” he said. “Some of these kids need extra encouragement to get moving and socializing, and it makes me want to be better and grow with them.”
The school’s approach to inclusion has drawn attention outside the gym. This year, it was recognized by Special Olympics Florida, receiving its second national banner, and earned an ESPN distinction as the top inclusive school in Florida. Pompilus said what matters most isn’t the recognition.
“If we win, we win. If we lose, we lose,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who you are in this world. Everybody needs an opportunity. I got my opportunity. I’m trying to do good.”
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