Follow Friday: The Sparkle Effect

Happy Friday, yall! This week has been crazy and busy with packing and preparing to move tomorrow, and since I will be without internet access for a few days, I decided to do my Follow Friday on Thursday!

This weeks Follow Friday is “The Sparkle Effect”. Back in 2008, two high school students from Iowa decided to use their popularity and status as cheerleaders for good. The girls formed their own squad that included children with disabilities. The team would come to be known as the “Spartan Sparkles” and includes 12 girls with disabilities, such as autism and Down Syndrome. The amazing thing is that the Sparkles team is completely youth-led! The team cheers with the varsity cheerleaders during games and get to be a part of a high school sports program. After a few years, other cheerleaders in other parts of the country began to take notice and decided to start a Sparkles team at their own school. As of now, the Sparkle Effect has generated 33 squads all over the country, and even in South Africa! How absolutely amazing is that? Two young girls had a vision and they did something about it.

This cause really hits close to home with me. In high school for my senior project we each had to choose a topic, write a research paper, and produce a physical product. My topic was Down Syndrome (which was chosen because of my experiences with my aunt with Down Syndrome) and inclusion in schools and I chose to put together an inclusion carnival for my physical product. I rented out space at our local YMCA and planned a night of snacks, games, and prizes, and invited children with and without disabilities. The object was to get both children with and without special needs to have a night of fun where they could interact and hang out with one another. We all ended up having a great time and it was so cool to be a part of the inclusion process.

So how can YOU help the Sparkle Effect? Here are some ways:
-Start a team at your school! (Or encourage someone you know to start a team)!
-Visit the official Sparkle Effect website!
-http://twitter.com/#!/SparkleEffect on Twitter!
-Move towards inclusion. Understand that we are all humans, with desires, wants, and needs. Be kind.
-Spread the word to end the word. The R word.
-Check out my post “Label Jars Not People”.

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Have a great weekend! And get out there and DO SOMETHING :)