The Need
|
We believe everyone needs opportunities to be active, to feel a part of something, and to express themselves. Schools have long offered activities for students to participate in, including “traditional sports” like track, basketball, and softball/baseball, musical activities like choir and band, and groups like chess club and a yearbook committee. While many students do choose these activities, many others may not have discovered their passions here. In recent years, non-traditional sports, like mountain bike racing, trap shooting, and fishing have been added. Opportunities such as dance team and show choir have sky-rocketed. Other co-curricular activities, like Robotics, Quiz Bowl Team and Envirothon, are now available for students that wish to exercise their intellectual skills outside of the classroom. Students that may have felt left behind with traditional opportunities are now getting active and involved in new, positive ways through their schools.
Growth in adaptive sports has also blossomed in our community and beyond. Field hockey, baseball, basketball and other competitive sports are offered to special education students in the Coulee Region. Similar to their mainstream peers, students with special needs have a wide variety of interests, not limited to the adaptive sports being offered. Abilities in Harmony is working to close the musical gap, providing opportunities for musical expression to students with special needs. |
|
Our Impact
Performers
Abilities in Harmony gives youth that wouldn't normally have the opportunity to sing and dance on stage the opportunity to do so. They gain confidence from trying something new and performing on stage. They love belonging to a group and feeling included in an activity they have watched their siblings and classmates participate in for years.
Abilities in Harmony gives youth that wouldn't normally have the opportunity to sing and dance on stage the opportunity to do so. They gain confidence from trying something new and performing on stage. They love belonging to a group and feeling included in an activity they have watched their siblings and classmates participate in for years.
Volunteers
The camps also provide an opportunity for students that have participated in show choir and other community members the opportunity to give back. They love to see how much the participants enjoy show choir and how much it means to them to be included in an activity they themselves have enjoyed. It has opened the door to friendships between students that may not have had the opportunity to interact in the past through an activity they both love.
The camps also provide an opportunity for students that have participated in show choir and other community members the opportunity to give back. They love to see how much the participants enjoy show choir and how much it means to them to be included in an activity they themselves have enjoyed. It has opened the door to friendships between students that may not have had the opportunity to interact in the past through an activity they both love.
"Being a part of Abilities in Harmony has exposed me to a community that I didn’t have much experience with. It is an extraordinary community with so much love. I always assumed that you gave love to this group of kids, but I didn’t realize how much love I was going to receive. These kids taught me so much about myself and others. The abilities of these kids are endless, and I’m so blessed to know them."
- Brittany Parker, camp director & volunteer
- Brittany Parker, camp director & volunteer
Families
The impact of the show choir camps has extended beyond the performers and volunteers. We have heard from so many parents of the performers about what it has meant to them and their children to be able to participate in this group. One parent shared, “Watching my child, along with so many other kids who I know have been through so much, have her chance to shine on stage is a feeling I will never be able to sum up in a word. Abilities in Harmony has allowed my daughter to finally have an opportunity to be just like the other kids, doing what she loves most.”
The impact of the show choir camps has extended beyond the performers and volunteers. We have heard from so many parents of the performers about what it has meant to them and their children to be able to participate in this group. One parent shared, “Watching my child, along with so many other kids who I know have been through so much, have her chance to shine on stage is a feeling I will never be able to sum up in a word. Abilities in Harmony has allowed my daughter to finally have an opportunity to be just like the other kids, doing what she loves most.”