The Guilford Unified Sports program took the spotlight on Oct. 9 as athletes joined the Grizzlies boys’ soccer team for pregame activities during a unified sports awareness night.

The Unified Sports program draws athletes from Adams Middle School, Baldwin Middle School, and Guilford High School (GHS) to compete under Coach Jaye Carlson. Carlson also coaches for Special Olympics.

“Last year Sergio Garcia-Perez took a seniors approach of bringing unified sports to be highlighted on senior night at the Grizzlies boys’ soccer game. Sergio made it his senior capstone project,” said Carlson. “He invited the unified sports team to support the boys soccer team on their senior night. They also had a fundraiser table with the proceeds being donated to Guilford unified sports.”

This year, senior midfielder Pierce Pappert continued the tradition, inviting the Unified Sports team to accompany the boys’ soccer team. Pappert has been involved with Unified Sports since he was in sixth grade and also used this as part of his Mastery Based Diploma Assessment (MBDA) project, which is a required course at Connecticut high schools where students select a topic and demonstrate their depth of learning by following through on a project.

“My friend Max Freeman asked me to join him in the gym after school to check it out. It was a program using sports to promote inclusion, and that really interested me. It was a great success, and I wanted to continue building upon last year’s momentum,” said Pappert. “The unified athletes wore GHS soccer pinnies and once again joined the starting varsity lineup in the center of the field for the National Anthem. And with our community’s incredible generosity, we tripled last year’s fundraising results.”

Pappert notes that Carlson was his mentor for the MBDA project, however she has been a role model and the inspirational leader of Unified Sports for many years.

“This is a student-driven program; they come to me and say, ‘Jaye, we would like to do this again’,” said Carlson. “They have to go through the midfielders, the coach, all of the leg work and then I am able to sign off on it.”

While the inclusion of the Unified Sports program during senior night serves as a fundraiser, Pappert stressed the importance of bringing recognition and awareness to Unified Sports and its athletes.

“I chose to bring awareness to unified sports because this group has helped me grow my leadership, compassion, and communication skills. The Unified athletes just want to feel included in our community, and in reality, isn’t that what we all want? To be included,” said Pappert. “This project gave me the opportunity to raise awareness while having a fundraiser for them, which was something I was really excited to do. With a popular home varsity soccer game as the main stage, we thought this could reach a lot of people and show them how much we value our unified athletes.”

Unified Sports Night may be student-driven, but the evening’s success is also thanks to the help of a number of parents and coaches. According to Pappert, several Unified coaches helped organize the athletes on the field, and fundraising was coordinated and supported by team parents.

The fundraising table, that was set-up by my mom and my teammates’ parents [Sandra Perez and Gabby Chango],” Pappert said. “Midfielder’s Treasurer, Hannah Hickey, ensured all protocols were followed and all my donation request emails were distributed. Sheri Kellaher, a mom of four GHS graduates that all served in unified sports, has been donating her time, taking photos for years, and we were fortunate she was able to document this night for us as well.”

Pappert said the fundraising success is also thanks to the generosity of several local pizzerias.

“When I called Rocco’s off Wooster and Naples Pizza, they were happy to donate, and their pizza slices were a huge part of our fundraising success,” said Pappert. “It really took a unified community to pull this together.”

Although the second annual fundraiser was a success, tripling its fundraising results, Pappert noted that it wasn’t without its challenges.

“At times, it was stressful, especially because everything had to get done so quickly. We really only had one week to get school approval and secure donations. But the amount of support I received from Jaye, Shelli Kellaher, the administration, my soccer coach, the Unified families, my peers, and the soccer parents’ donations made everything easier. They are the real reason this event was so memorable,” said Pappert.

Pappert also adds that he cannot emphasize enough the impact that Carlson has had on him throughout the entire process. He has learned a lot from her about patience, empathy, and how she treats everyone with total respect.

With Pappert graduating in June and this being his last year with the Unified athletes, he looks forward to the future as well as a few more events that will take place in the months to come.

“I can’t believe this is my last year with these amazing athletes and fellow coaches that have become close friends. Moving forward, I plan to continue spreading awareness of this organization wherever I can,” said Pappert. “We are now using the money raised to plan a Unified Valentine’s Dance. There is going to be a lot of dancing and a lot of fun; actually, it’s been years of fun, and I can’t express how grateful I am to have been included.”