{"id":13584,"date":"2025-04-11T14:52:48","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T18:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=13584"},"modified":"2025-04-11T14:52:48","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T18:52:48","slug":"exceptional-games-celebrate-pembroke-elementary-students-unique-abilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/exceptional-games-celebrate-pembroke-elementary-students-unique-abilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Exceptional Games celebrate Pembroke Elementary students\u2019 unique abilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Pembroke Elementary students of all abilities recently participated in the Exceptional Games, including a parade, opening ceremony and a variety of engaging athletic activities.<\/p>\n

Over 80 exceptional children participated in the games, and they were cheered on by their parents, teachers, peer buddies and volunteers from Bayside High School\u2019s Health and Sciences Academy.<\/p>\n

Kindergarten through fifth graders held handmade, inspirational signs as the athletes paraded through the hallway. Many smiled at the attention and posed for pictures.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Special education teacher Amanda McCormack with students at Pembroke Elementary<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI love the parade,\u201d said special education teacher Amanda McCormack, the main organizer of the event. \u201cIt\u2019s awesome to see people cheering. It brings us together as a school community.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the second year for the Exceptional Games at Pembroke Elementary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids are used to this environment, so they feel especially comfortable participating in an event here at Pembroke,\u201d McCormack said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Exceptional Games celebrate teamwork, creating a fun and welcoming environment for all abilities,\u201d said Dr. Ann Shufflebarger. She and Linda Sidone are acting principals at Pembroke.<\/p>\n

Fun activities included bowling, blowing bubbles and collecting balls \u201cHungry Hungry Hippos\u201d style. Student Pablo Almanza shouted \u201cyay\u201d while riding a wheelchair swing. His mother, Christina Serrano, said Pablo has attended Pembroke for about two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve watched his development in the time that he\u2019s been here,\u201d Serrano said. \u201cBeing part of this event, participating first-hand, is rewarding. I\u2019m very excited about his future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assistant principal Amie Wetmore inspired the students during the opening ceremony.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday you don\u2019t just compete, you shine,\u201d she said, adding that winning wasn\u2019t as important as simply showing up and participating.<\/p>\n

Assistant principal Curstin Williams welcomed visitors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for coming together to celebrate what makes ourselves truly unique,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pembroke Elementary students of all abilities recently participated in the Exceptional Games, including a parade, opening ceremony and a variety of engaging athletic activities. Over 80 exceptional children participated in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":13586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13584"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13604,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13584\/revisions\/13604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}