- Holly Niedzielski, DCMS Special Education Teacher

 

Rachel Ardoff is an 8th grader at Dassel-Cokato Middle School with special needs. Every year, her family and friends participate in the Energy for Life Walk for Mitochondrial Disease Awareness. Rachel looks forward to this every year. She was so excited about her walk this year and was inviting everyone that she saw in the halls to come and walk with her. Unfortunately, Rachel's family had to cancel her walk this year because she got sick. Rachel's immune system is compromised and she needs to be very careful to stay as healthy as she can so she can stay in school with her friends. She was so disappointed that the walk couldn't happen.

 

Rachel is part of Charger Connections, our unified club. We decided to do a "mini walk" at school for Rachel last Friday during Charger Time. I created a video about Rachel that told who she is, a little about her disability and unique needs, ways students could interact with her/get to know her and included pictures of her with her friends (who are her very favorite part of school!) as a way for all students to have a greater understanding of Rachel when they see her in the halls or in class. This generated some great discussions in Charger Time classrooms where Rachel's friends could answer questions about her to their classmates. Rachel's paras and I organized the walk. Students and staff made signs, cheered, clapped and lined the hallways on Friday morning while Rachel, her Charger Time and Charger Connections friends walked through the hallways. Her smile said it all! Go Rachel!