This is my first year sponsoring a Unity Club at Richmond Secondary. Ironically, it all began at our school with the vision and passion of a motivated student, Imran Sumar. After he graduated, the club had unfortunately subsided over the years, due to the lack of time and finding sponsors but after seeing the Unity Clubs being run at other schools, I decided to sponsor it this year.
The Unity Club promotes positivity and coming together to have fun. We have created Tuesdays as our “Unity Tuesday” and it is so wonderful to see all the students of all different abilities unite during lunchtime to play games and enjoy treats together. We have students who typically were going home for lunch, now stay because they look forward to and cherish this time. The leaders show empathy and caring and it is rewarding to be a part of something that gives me pride in our school community. On a personal note, not only am I an educational assistant supporting students with varying disabilities, I am also a mother of a son with special needs so I understand first hand how it can be difficult for those students to find a place where they can feel comfortable and feel accepted. I am grateful to Imran who planted the seeds to such an inspiring club, which has now flourished into many more clubs around the district. Imran, who is now a university student, still plays a large role in supporting all the Unity Clubs and it is refreshing to see such a compassionate young man making such a positive difference.
Each year, the Unity Clubs from all the schools come together for their biggest event, the Spirit Dance and we are extremely excited this year to have the opportunity to host it at Richmond Secondary. It will be on Thursday, June 1st from 6 – 8pm and the theme is a Pajama Party! I look forward to seeing students and Unity Club members in their cute pajamas and can’t wait to see all the smiles.
Unity Club 