BonnerSprings.com

Competition was in the air Friday at Bonner Springs High School gym, but it wasn't the typical sporting event.

The 8th Annual Special Ed Job Olympics brought 140 students from the Wyandotte County area to participate in competitions of practical job skills.

Of the 140 special education participants, 10 were from Bonner Springs High School. Other schools included Piper High School, Turner High School, Washington High School and Schlagle High School.

Mary Reading, a transition counselor with the Wyandotte County Special Education Cooperative, said the event was started to give special-education students the opportunity to work on job skills for their future. She described the event as joyful, not only for the participants who feel a sense of accomplishment, but for the parents and volunteers who witnessed it all.

"It's a good opportunity for them to get out of school and participate in something in a different way," she said.

There were 40 events where the participant is given a list of steps to complete a task, which can range from sorting mail and folding laundry to bagging groceries and basic carpentry. The participants are scored on how well the instructions were followed as well as on how fast the task was completed.

"It gives them a chance to work on job skills and learn how to do certain steps that will be expected out on a job," Reading said.

She said the event was a steppingstone to promote the employability for students with a broad continuum of disabilities. The events varied in difficulty according to the different types of students who participated.

Medals for first, second and third place in each event were handed out at an awards ceremony at the end of the day. Following the ceremony an Olympian Dance was staged at J.C. Harmon High School.

Robert Young, another transition counselor who focuses on the Bonner Springs/Piper area, said the goal was to prepare students for life after school, which includes not only employment but also independent living.

He said what's great about the Olympics event is that students are getting immediate feedback on the effort they put into the tasks. He said the events show that the disabled students really do have the capability of making a living and escaping the stereotypes that society gives them.

In addition to the Job Olympics, Young pointed out that Bonner Springs recently added the class PAES, which stands practical assessment exploration system, to its special-education curriculum. The class focuses on many of the events included in the Olympics. Young said teachers are able to make assessments of the student's abilities and help place them in community jobs.

"What's innovative about PAES is the growing acceptance of educators that there is a large gap in employment between kids with disabilities and their non-disabled counterparts," he said.

Steve Schmidt, yet another transition counselor with the Wyandotte County Special Education Cooperative, was one of the original founders of the Job Olympics in the area eight years ago.

"We saw how other cities were doing it," Schmidt said of the Job Olympics. "We thought it was time to present this opportunity to the students of Wyandotte County."

Schmidt said his favorite part of the day was during the awards ceremony.

"That's when you really pull on the heart strings," he said. "This is important to these kids."

He said it was the feeling of accomplishment that makes the students so proud. Feeling as though they've learned something new and were able to compete like many of their peers get to do during traditional sporting events makes them feel special, he said.

For Audrey Miller, of Bonner Springs, Friday's event provided that special feeling for her and her son, Mark Schmidt, 15.

Mark, who is autistic, attends Bonner Springs High School and has participated in the Olympics event the last three years.

"It gives them a chance to show what they can so instead of what they can't do," Miller said.

She said she's seen improvement in her son as he practiced for and then competed in the Job Olympics. She has hopes that one day Mark will be able to live in an assisted-living home. The life skills that he is getting during the event and in his PAES class are going to help make that happen she said.

During the first year at the Job Olympics, Miller said she remembers sitting back in the stands watching her son and many others like him compete in the events.

"I realized he can do more than I gave him credit for if someone would just let him do it," she said. "It opened my eyes and made me proud that someday he will be able to be out on his own."

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