Camp TEAM connects Western students with community members with disabilities

Jill Heckathorn, a senior instructor in Physical Education, Health and Recreation at Western Washington University, has been honored for her work with Camp TEAM, a summer camp she created almost a decade ago for community members with disabilities.

The 2011 Peace Builder Award in education was bestowed by the Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center Friday night at the center's annual gala in Bellingham.

At Camp TEAM, 70 Western students from Heckathorn's Adaptive Recreation and the Development of Inclusive Communities class work with 70 community members together each year. At the three-day, two-night camp, which takes place at Camp Kirby on Samish Island, the students and community members play, eat, sleep and work together. Each student is assigned a leadership role and is required to develop and lead one small or large group activity. According to a nomination letter written by Keith Russell, an associate professor in PEHR, and his wife, Sheri, a mediator with the Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center, students in the class learn social and medical models of disabilities, models and principles of inclusion, activity adaptation and group leadership.

"Perhaps most significant, through Camp TEAM, Jill provides her students with the opportunity for authentic shared participation in activities with persons who have disabilities, and the opportunity for reflection on their experience," the Russells write. "Like branches of a tree growing, dividing and reaching further, the students' messages, increasing exponentially each year, lead to more and more communities with greater understanding and acceptance of persons with developmental disabilities. In turn, research has consistently shown this understanding and acceptance significantly reduces conflict and negative attitudes toward this vulnerable population."

Camp TEAM (Together, Everyone Achieves More) is a multi-agency effort with the coordinating committee consisting of members from Western Washington University Recreation Program, Skagit County and Bellingham Parks and Recreation, which is also a co-sponsor.