Jefferson Township High School to host inclusive track and field meet

Jefferson Township High School will be hosting nine other schools in a track and field competition on May 17 with teams comprised of students with and without disabilities.

Having general education students and special education students as teammates has inspired many memorable moments, said Jefferson Township High School special education teacher Karen Kosco, who has been part of the program since its 2017 inception. Take, for instance, the school's May 10 meet in Morristown.

“There was a girl in a wheelchair yesterday who was struggling to go around the track and everybody − her whole team − ran along beside her as she went. Everybody else stood along the side cheering. Every school was out there cheering for her. That's what happens at these events,” said Kosco.

Engineering teacher Joyce Seifried, who co-coaches with Kosco, agrees and said the season, which consists of eight practices and four competitions, has been full of “warm and fuzzy" moments like that.

High schools from Morris, Warren and Sussex counties that will be competing next week take part in the Unified Sports program, which is overseen and partially funded by the New Jersey chapter of the Special Olympics.

High school can be a challenging time for teenagers, who often find support in after-school programs. There aren’t many options for students with disabilities, Kosco said. This program changes that.

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Unified Sports was created by the Special Olympics to improve social inclusion and physical fitness, according to the group’s website.

“It was inspired by a simple principle: training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding,” it states.

The coming meet will be the largest event the Jefferson team has taken part in. Its team is comprised of 14 athletes from the school’s special education program and 12 general education students. They will compete in a 4x4 relay race where each team has four runners who each run a lap passing a baton to the next runner, a 400-meter sprint and field events, like shot put, javelin and long jump.

“The concession stands will have free food, free snacks, free water because we're getting a lot of donations from people, from all the schools and we're even having a dress down day at our school where people pay $5 to wear jeans. We're going to have water, hopefully Gatorade and about 400 bags of the little goldfish, chips and stuff like that and we're just going to give it out," said Kosco..

Everyone is welcome to attend. The event will run from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. For questions, call the school at (973) 697-3535.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Unified Sports offers after-school sports for disabled students