The Route to an All-Inclusive School: Stand Up For Inclusion

The East Central High School Student Athlete Leadership Team (SALT), along with students from the Trojan Cafe, put their leadership skills into action by launching a new initiative: Stand Up for Inclusion.  

This collaborative project brought the groups together to plan, market and operate a schoolwide lemonade stand in December, including home basketball games. 

Inspired by Allie Albanese’s idea, the group offered Captain America-themed lemonades in regular, strawberry and blue raspberry flavors. They were moved by one of Captain America’s famous lines: “If we don’t stand up for what’s right, who will?” This message aligns perfectly with the purpose of this event. Standing up is exactly what SALT and the students from the Trojan Cafe hope to encourage within our school and our community. 

The Trojan Cafe is operated entirely by East Central’s inclusion classes and is open each school day, offering drinks and food items prepared in class. Through their work in the career exploration classes and the cafe, students learn essential life and employability skills. Partnering with SALT reinforces that they are capable, included and can work alongside anyone, any job and in any environment.  

For the students, inclusion means embracing everyone regardless of background, ability or learning style and ensuring they feel welcomed, supported and valued in the general education setting. Inclusive education is the most effective way to give all children a fair chance to learn and develop the skills they need to thrive.  

In true Captain America spirit, students from the inclusion classes also participated in Buddy Basketball. This collaboration allowed students to join the basketball team for warm-ups, stand with players during the national anthem and helped form the tunnel for team introductions. The goal was to build confidence, create meaningful connections and foster friendships that last well beyond the event by including the students in the team’s pregame traditions.  

All proceeds from the Stand Up for Inclusion project were donated to the Champions Together program. Formed in partnership with Special Olympics in 2012, Champions Together promotes shared experiences between students with and without intellectual disabilities. In 2014, Unified Track became an official IHSAA sport, inviting schools to create teams made up of students of all abilities to compete for a state championship.  

The idea of creating an inclusion event has been in the works for some time at East Center. The SALT students found the spark they needed during the Anthony Muñoz Foundation Youth Leadership Seminar in 2025. Following the seminar, SALT President Tyler Stenger began working with staff and students to build a concrete plan. 

“Combining a project for the IHSAA and for the Anthony Munoz service challenge project allows us to not only incorporate the standards from each organization, it allows us to mesh together two organizations that have similar goals to come together for one project, much like what we are doing with our inclusion classes,” Stenger said. “When given the right tools, students of all intellectual abilities can benefit. We hope that by creating this event, we make lasting impressions on all those involved and that change starts to brew for more inclusion events in the future.”