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Alex and Will Their Journey With Special Olympics

Alex Keith and William McClennan became friends on the Unified Basketball court. Both were going to Williamsburg middle school and William's basketball coach was Alex's school teacher. The teacher invited the basketball team in every Wednesday morning to play games(usually UNO). William never won UNO and Alex did okay but they became friends through those morning hangouts. They started hanging out in high school at Unified Basketball practices and during Best Buddies events.

The Yorktown Unified Basketball team.

After becoming friends they started going to different solo events together from bowling to movies. This past year Alex and Will had the opportunity to travel across the country to the USA Special Olympics games When there they learned all about the people who ran such a large scale event and were inspired to bring back the skills they learned. They went to Seattle with their mentor Veronica Jennings who helps them further their goals for Yorktown High School Unified Sports.

Some of Alex's Favorite parts of Special Olympics are: Meeting New People and Being Independent.

Some of Will's Favorite parts of Special Olympics are: Making new friends and being part of such a loving community.

Alex finds participating and being the life of the party something that that makes him happy. He strives to make all events, practices and parties fun and smoothly run. Alex has stepped up and grown as a leader. He likes to stand up for those who can't help themselves and that is why he is a leader of inclusion.

William loves the atmosphere a unified practice has and the beauty of friendships formed on the court or in the field. Will found a group of people that liked him for who he is. He has become a leader of inclusion by trying to give that same experience that he received to the rest of the world.

Alex's hero of inclusion is Yancey, his school bus driver. Yancey inspires Alex by making people feel happy and excited every day. Alex says that he wants to be her in the future and that she works hard.

William's inclusion hero is his high school unified basketball and track coach. He admires him because this year his coach retired from his job to go help his sister who has downs syndrome. The way that he puts aside his own personal wants for others is why William respects and admires him.

Heroes of Inclusion in media is an area that really represents the whole movement. Many people can be swayed by volunteering time and money if a celebrity endorses or participates in the movement. Some of our best efforts are from self advocates who are actors displaying how their disability doesn't define them.

Alex's social media game changers are Anthony and Tim Kennedy Shriver because of the way that both of them really move forward the goals of inclusion that we look up to. They do a great job of highlighting inclusion game changers.

William's social media influencer who promotes inclusion is Chris Pratt. When William was first starting out with his Special Olympics involvement he was surprising a unified softball team. William watched him in a couple of his features and tries to emulate his caring attitude.

Though March is our month of respect we think that respect is something that should be highlighted all of the time. Alex and William at the school level with their spread the word movement by waiting the table as people sign the banner and pledge for inclusion. Outside of that both of them try to lead by example and spread inclusion and respect for everyone. Another thing that our high school did in March is a dodgeball tournament at a close school that was sponsored to end the use of the R-word. Also Alex and I are watching a couple of our Virginia SO friends as they compete in Abu Dhabi. We met most of them in Seattle at the national games and loved watching them compete on the world level.

Healthy habits is something that William and Alex really try to have. We get exercise during our basketball and track seasons but outside of those Alex stays active with biking and making healthy food choices. William usually doesn't make healthy food choices but the varsity basketball whips him into shape. Next year some the things that Alex and I have talked about is a sort of intramural unified softball team for our county as well as a bocce team for our athletes and partners who don't want to strain themselves physically too much.

To Alex and Will one of their most important families is their school community. Yorktown high school where both of them go has become a place where all our welcome and they think their efforts through Special Olympics and Best Buddies has really played a good part in that. They have worked to make sure everyone in the school has the opportunity not to be alone and by doing so have created a family of their peers. Who are all working towards a better world for everyone.

Sometimes during Summer break the school friends that you always had lunch with seem to be kind of none responsive. A great way to promote inclusion out of school is to just be there for your friends send a text, invite them to an event, have coffee or show them pictures from your trip to Paris. William has organized a couple of things over the summer two of the recent ones were a bowling party where he invited his and Alex's friends and a mini gulf outing opened to their whole unified club. Alex who works at AMC has been inviting his friends to the movies and also checks in with everyone daily.

Recently Alex and Will went to a conference where they were lucky enough to hear Hello Noon a band that was formed a UCLA. The band recently came out the a movie video that partnered with Special Olympics. They promote inclusion through their lyrics and our a great summer band to check out

Looking back on a bit of the history of inclusion Alex and William decided to focus on a certain piece of legislature that was one of the most important in their opinion: The Disabilities Education Act. They think this is one of the most important events in the inclusion revolution as it gave people with disabilities a voice through education. Providing opportunity for every person to get an education. In mid 1975 president Ford made history by making this Act law.

Hitting The Books

Alex and Will just finished up their great summer and are ready to start off this year with a bang. William is going into his senior year at Yorktown high school and Alex, after graduating last year is going full time at the Arlington Career Center in their culinary program. They are really excited to grow their Unified Champion Sports and have a big focus this year on creating a strong base for the years to come through Arlington schools.

1st and 2nd classes of US Youth Ambassadors meeting

A couple of weeks ago Alex and William, members of the first ambassador class, travelled to Washington D.C. to celebrate The Generation Unified. They met with their incoming second class of ambassadors with a couple of days of training and overall a great bonding experience. Alex and Will have been assigned to be mentors of the youth ambassador for Texas:James and Jackson.

Sports are a defining part of Special Olympics, but they are also a defining part of Alex and Will's friendship. Alex met Will at a basketball game and their friendship kept growing as they played sports

Alex: When I was in middle school I joined a special Olympic baseball and I went to practice and I was really good at 1st base and catching the ball and I went to a baseball game and I had a practice at the National's practices field and the Georgetown baseball team came out and helped us out and it was really fun. I went to a game and I played in it and I was really really fun and now I've stop playing baseball but maybe next year I will go and play.

Will: When Back whenI was a sophomore Alex and I went to the USA Special Olympic Games in Seattle we went with the Virginia delegation made up of about seventy people athletes, coaches and partners. We(Will and Alex) tried to make a point of going and cheering on the different sports our delegation was cheering in. The one that really stood out to me was the Bocce team. We showed up late to the match but there were already a ton of our delegation there. The whole group laughed and cheered for our team and it was one of the best sports games i've ever seen. It made me feel like a part of something bigger than myself.

Smile For The Selfie!

Technology for William and Alex is almost synonymous with their phones. On a day to day basis they both use social media platforms from Instagram to Snapchat. Alex uses social media and technology to connect with friends that he doesn't get to see everyday. If Alex didn't have technology he would write layers to his friends instead. William uses technology to discover new things and new people. If William didn't have technology he would read more books.

After having the pleasure of being introduced to the second class of youth ambassadors, Alex and William have really started out in their new roles as mentors. They have become the official mentors of James and Jackson our South West Youth Ambassadors in the second class. On the subject of advice they have tried to help James and Jackson feel like a part of our Youth Ambassador team. Alex says that one piece of advice for leaders in the inclusion revolution is to be friendly. Will says that if you really want to grow as a person and a leader always be ready to lend a helping hand whenever you can. He says if you start early and leave late you're growing as a person.

Looking back a whole year ago Alex and Will thought about how they talked about someone who is an inclusion hero for them. They're going to do the same thing this year but with a slight twist. The question they answered, what peers do they consider an inclusion hero?

When Alex was first asked this question eh immediately thought of his friend Kara. He said that they way that she is always there to hang out and talk is super cool. He is happy to have a friend who is so inclusive and nice.

William said that the person at his school that he thought did the most or the Inclusion Revolution was Sofie Dalton. She helps him with all of the Unified Basketball logistics and emails. She really is a great complement to Will. The salt to his pepper. Sofie is going to JMU next year to get a special education teaching degree and Will could not be more happy for her.

Kenmore Unified Basketball Tournement
Leonardo Da Vinci and Kieth Haring's artwork

When it comes to artists and their contributions Alex and Will thought about this in two different ways. Will focused more on the modern inclusion artists while Alex looked at the more classical side of inclusion. Alex says that he thinks Leonardo Da Vinci is a leader of inclusive art because he has brought so many people together over the beauty of his artwork, from self portraits to his most famous, the mona lisa. Will thought of Keith Haring. Kieth Haring passed away last year but left a legacy with both Special Olympics and Best Buddies by donating his artwork to the organizations. As seen in the familiar pictures above Kieth Haring has done great things for the inclusion revolution through his skilled art.

With March being Spread the Word Inclusion Month, Alex and Will wanted to talk about the activation that both of them felt most proud of. On March 4th Alex and Will put on an assembly for over 400 of their peers at their own high school. While both spoke briefly on stage during the assembly the real part that they are proud of is all of the back end stuff that they did to make the pep rally happen. Will wanted to add this sentiment about his feelings on how the pep rally went, "On Thursday(the next day) one of our assistant principles came up to me. She said that she had watched a student look at pledge signing table during lunch and walk by, the cool part was that then the kid stopped turned around and walked over to the table. I think it's super cool that we could see that our message of inclusion affected one person because if it affected them it probably did the same to many others." Alex added, "The assembly was a really good time, it was nice to meet all of the new people." Will and Alex had their school wide assembly on March 4th, better known as Spread the Word Day, which is now transitioning into a year long movement. Alex and Will are are so grateful that they not only got the chance to show off the inclusion at their school but help to move forward the work of National and then Global inclusion.

Alex's favorite exercise is biking he loves to bike because it's great exercise and you can go any where you want, maybe stop somewhere to get a snack. When he bike rides he makes sure to drink lots of water. He recommends to wear an apple watch or fit bit when you go out biking so you can see how far you got on your ride. Alex's fitness goal is to stay healthy.

Will's favorite form of exercise is going on walks. He really likes being able to enjoy looking a the beauties of his community on foot. He prefers having a different path every time he goes for a walk. Will tries to increase the length of his walks every week when he has the time. Alex also says that he likes walking for exercise, but Will is not a good biker. Will's fitness goal is to cook more food himself.

some of the members of one of W&A's communities

A majority of the communities that Alex and Will are a part of are shared by both of them. Many communities that both share involve working with people with disabilities. Because both Alex and Will care about this subject they have been involved and in. they’ve helped their school and as well as growing the inclusive community. When Alex was asked about the communities that he was involved in he mentioned Unified Club and Best Buddies. Will thought similarly and mentioned Unified Club and Best Buddies but also talked about how he thinks communities can come in many different forms. The idea of how communities are separate but come in different sizes and have some inside of others. As they explained it they have become leaders in different communities and are consistently working to expand the communities that they connect with.

reading and fishing (maybe evn fishing while reading)

Summer fun is something that Alex and Will are taking quite seriously. Alex has been spending more time outside being part of nature and fishing locally whereas William has been staying a bit more confined inside with a good book or two. Alex says that Special Olympics has helped him make friends and got and do cool things. Will thinks pretty similarly that he has learned and grown due to his involvement with Special Olympics and in particular Unified Sports has learned about what it means to be inclusive and during his time this summer wants to understand how people fit into an inclusive world.

Alex and Will's superheros

This was a really interesting prompt of superheros as Alex and Will remembered back to the last time they wrote about their heros. This time around Alex and Will actually thought of the same people, their fellow youth ambassadors from the class of 2018. They talk about how their fellow ambassadors have shown them what it means to be a leader and speak up for inclusion and for the unified generation as a whole.

Created By
William McClennan
Appreciate

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