The Future of Unified Skating
Recently BBA students teamed up for a partner and skaters event off campus at Riley Rink. Members from the boys and girls hockey team paired up with students for a day of skating. Many of these skaters are part of Unified sports at BBA. Unified sports joins students with or without disabilities on the same team.
Hockey team members had a blast teaching others how to skate, while also forming new friendships. Mya Duncan '26, a member of the girls varsity hockey team, said, “[I loved this experience.] Skating and hockey are huge passions of mine; watching and helping other students learn to do it made me so happy.”
Beth McCoy, BBA’s Special Services Coordinator, mentioned a highlight from the event for her was watching one student who typically never steps puts skates on. This student usually just walks around the perimeter of the rink, however, within the last five minutes of skating the student finally stepped on the ice and skated for the first time. McCoy also says she loves watching the partnership between the students, which allows the staff to step back and let the students create meaningful memories.
McCoy always enjoys creating exciting and engaging opportunities for students outside of school grounds. This allows them to find safe and comfortable places in the community that's not just BBA. McCoy hopes there's a future to this skating activity, but the biggest barriers are adaptivity and accessibility. An adaptive sled is the biggest factor in allowing access for all individuals to be on the ice. Neither Riley nor BBA own any, without an adaptive sled some students were unable to participate during the skating event and snowshoed around Riley Rink instead.
McCoy and other hope that skating will be incorporated in the many other BBA Unified activities such as Unified soccer, music, and basketball.
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Burr and Burton Academy
57 Seminary Avenue
PO Box 498
Manchester, VT 05254
Phone: 802.362.1775, Fax: 802.362.0574
