The Sparkle Effect by Emily

The Sparkle Effect by Emily - January 2017 Scholarship Essay

I have had an opportunity to make difference in some special needs students’ lives at my high school. I have been a Peer Tutor for the last two years and really enjoy working with them. My first year being a peer tutor, I noticed that there were not many opportunities for the students to be able to join clubs or activities. I am a cheerleader at my high school and some of the special needs girls would always talk about cheerleading and how they would like to be a cheerleader. So, I went to my coach and to one of the teachers of the special needs students and asked if they could cheer at one of our pep rallies. Once it was approved, I got everything together for them to be on the floor with us cheerleaders. The students absolutely loved it!

At the end of my junior year I was approached by my cheerleading coach about a program that she had seen about getting special needs students involved in cheerleading and for me to check it out. So over last summer I contacted the organization called “The Sparkle Effect”. It is a nationwide program that helps create cheer and dance teams to bring together students with and without disabilities.

After talking to my teammates, meeting with several members from the school administration team and working with the people at the Sparkle Effect organization, we became an official Sparkle Effect team. We are team #184 and the first team in the state of Kentucky! We had 4 special needs students sign up to do it. We were able to get them matching cheer uniforms through the organization. The students have been so excited since this started. They have cheered two varsity football games and we are getting ready to start cheering basketball games.

It has been a great program to bring to my high school. Some of the parents of the special needs cheerleaders have said that it has made a difference in their school work and they seem excited about school now. One of the special needs cheerleaders said that it was a dream come true to be a high school cheerleader. Every student deserves the same opportunities no matter if they have a disability or not. It makes me feel good to know I made a difference in their lives and to see them so happy is a great feeling.