EOU students help young people with limited mobility get up and go

Jessica Ulrich devoted a portion of her
senior practicum to working with a group
of high school students with special needs.
She is studying physical education and
health at EOU.
              

LA GRANDE, Oregon – As a student in the division of physical activity and health at Eastern Oregon University, it is Jessica Ulrich’s job to understand the importance of being physically fit.

But what if due to a disability it seemed nearly impossible to exercise?

Each Monday during fall term, Ulrich, a senior at EOU, worked with a group of La Grande High School students with special needs: students who face this difficulty every day.

In collaboration with Bob Culbreth, director of the special education program at LHS, Ulrich and several other EOU students taught P.E. classes at the high school and at the EOU swimming pool. Ulrich met with eight to ten students every Monday at LHS and worked with a smaller group in the pool.

The EOU students also swam with children from the Grande Ronde Child Center, Central Elementary and Greenwood Elementary schools during the week.

“It’s so important to get them up and moving and out of the classroom because they are cooped up all day,” Ulrich said.

Whether the students were riding stationary bicycles or playing around on wrestling mats, each activity was geared specifically for one-on-one interaction.

The trips to the EOU pool turned out to be a favorite among the group high school students Ulrich came to know during fall term. 

“Swimming is freedom to them,” Ulrich said. “It’s easier on their joints and they can splash, jump around, have fun and just be goofy.”

Ulrich is majoring in physical activity and health and her time spent working with the students from LHS will go toward her practicum. She encourages other EOU students in the program to do the same because there is a real need for more adapted physical activities that students with disabilities can participate in. 

"Once you see them smile, you can’t not go."
— Jessica Ulrich, EOU student

Kristen Oja, instructor of physical education and health at EOU, is Ulrich’s advisor. Ulrich credits her with developing and maintaining the partnership between EOU and LHS.

Oja coordinates all the adapted physical activity labs for
students in the physical activity and health program. Dr. Peggy Anderson, retired EOU professor of physical education, helped initiate the university’s adapted aquatics program which is now under Oja’s leadership.

“Jessica was one of the students who truly excelled in the lab,” Oja said. “She is empathetic, has a wonderful disposition and gets along well with others. Jessica is the kind of person who will do whatever needs to be done, without complaint, regardless of whether or not it is her responsibility.”

Ulrich and Oja hope to see the partnership between EOU and LHS continue and grant funding is being sought to enable LHS to continue bussing students to the EOU pool.

“I believe that the swim program is mutually beneficial for EOU students and for the La Grande School District and should be continued,” Oja said.

The swimming program will not be available during winter and spring term but Oja plans to incorporate similar lab experiences for students in some of the other classes she will be teaching this academic year. Instead of swimming, Oja plans to have students continue visiting LHS and possibly other schools to assist with physical education classes.

Albeit overwhelming, Ulrich said her experience working with the students from LHS was full of unexpected rewards. Her very first day in the classroom was the hardest.

“But I did it anyway, because once you see them smile, you can’t not go,” she said.

The last week of November marked Ulrich’s final session with her group of students, but she hopes to be able to visit them again.

“It will be hard not seeing them every week,” she said. “They are great kids. I love them all.”

Ulrich will graduate from EOU in 2007 and plans to pursue a career in physical therapy. She is from Adrian, Ore.

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