PN United team participates in Polar Plunge together
March 20, 2020
On February 22, the Portage Northern Unified team participated in the Polar Plunge at Bell’s Brewery to raise money for Special Olympics Michigan (SOMI). Student leader of the Youth Advisory Committee, junior Max Zigterman, explains: “Here at PN, we have recently become a Unified Champion School. That means we have both a Youth Advisory Committee and a sports team. With those, the goal is to bring together students with, and without intellectual disabilities through both sports and leadership, to provide the skills to promote inclusion and acceptance.” Zigterman participated in the Polar Plunge for seven years before other students from Portage Northern joined. “By myself felt different [than] with teammates,” says Zigterman. “It was good to be able to tell them how the Polar Plunge feels, and how many people like doing it for this kind of organization that supports everyone no matter what disability they have.” Overall, the event raised $59,600, surpassing their $45,000 goal. Half of the approximately $1200 raised by Portage Northern comes back to the PN Unified Team. Next up, Portage Northern is organizing a Unified basketball team for Special Olympics Michigan. The basketball team will practice during 7th hour for a game on April 17th against Howell High School.
