Campus Festival in Nippon

Led by: Nana and Kyoka
Special Olympics Nippon

The following post was written by Nana and Kyoka, Special Olympics Youth Leaders from Nippon. Nana and Kyoka make it their mission to strengthen inclusion within their community. Check out how they #innovateforinclusion!

Together we completed their very first project as project managers that involved the creation of a campus festival to introduce elementary school children and their families to the Special Olympics community. This campus festival included; training, advocacy, a film screening, and various other activities all with the focus around inclusivity.

When we visited the supermarket near University, we had an opportunity to talk about Special Olympics and leave behind leaflets to catch customers’ attention. This ultimately led to the success of our festival.

Because of that, we want to thank all the volunteers and supporters that helped make this project possible. We never imagined volunteers playing such an important role at the event like the one we planned. This experience gave us a deeper appreciation for their contribution and devotion.

Through our campus festival, we were able to target young children with intellectual disabilities and their families in order to highlight the support system of Special Olympics and its programming. In addition, we were able to provide an opportunity for children without intellectual disabilities to be exposed to the idea of inclusion and grow up together to become a #Unified Generation.

The Special Olympics Youth Innovation Grant initiative is supported through partnerships with SNF, Hasbro Inc., the Office of Special Education Programs at the United States Department of Education, Samuel Family Foundation, Lions Club International Foundation, Microsoft Corporation, PMIEF, and Kantar. Learn more about these inspiring projects at SpecialOlympicsGlobalYouthProjects.org.