St. Andrew’s students have committed to eradicating the “R” word – retard – from their vocabularies.
The initiative was championed by Director of the Middle School, Sabrina D’Angelo, and Head of History and Social Sciences, Dave Stewart.
Middle and Upper School students were introduced to the campaign last week during assemblies where they watched a video on how people with intellectual disabilities are hurt and bullied by the R-word. After learning more about the pledge, each student wrote the word on a yellow piece of paper, and as a group, ripped their paper in half, making a promise to remove the R-word from their vocabulary.
The YellowCard Campaign was introduced by Old Boys and brothers, Mark ’92 and Paul Etherington ’95 of motionball – a not-for-profit organization that builds awareness and funds for the Special Olympics Canada Foundation. Over the years, St. Andrew’s faculty and staff have participated in motionball’s social and sporting events to encourage a new generation of volunteers and donors to join the Special Olympics movement.
Over the past 12 months, there have been more than seven million mentions of the R-word on Twitter and that figure climbs by the second. Join the over 6,500 people who have taken the pledge at www.motionball.com/yellowcard because there is #nogoodway. For every person who signs the pledge, motionball’s corporate supporters will donate $1 in support of the Special Olympics Canada Foundation.
Story by Nicolette Fleming, St. Andrew's College
