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Unity Tree

Uniting Special Needs Families in the Inland Empire

Special World Changers

A Special World Changer is an individual or business whose volunteer service to special needs families embraces our sense of community. Nominees are chosen quarterly and are individuals or businesses whose volunteer service directly benefits the special needs community through:

  • Providing services that support, empower, include and accept the special needs community
  • Performing outstanding volunteer work
  • Serving as a community role model and mentor
  • Demonstrating random acts of kindness

WORLD-CHANGER

UNITY tree’s first Special World Changer is Tracy Lee.

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Tracy is a teacher with San Bernardino County and currently teaches at John L. Golden Elementary in Etiwanda, California.

Tracy first encountered the special needs community when she was 14 years old and volunteered at a special needs summer camp; she immediately fell in love. Tracy continued to work in the years to follow at other camps and group homes. While attending college, her previous experience motivated her to major in special education with the goal of opening up her own group home. After college Tracy started teaching and again fell in love, this time with her students.

Tracy’s biggest passion is teaching. Through her passion, dedication, and creativity Tracy is able to find ways to support her students so they become successful. Tracy loves planning for her students! She loves getting new IEP’s, working with her para-educator team and modifying goals and tasks for her students benefit. She says her biggest accomplishment is when she finally figures a way to enter a child’s world and find out what motivates them to do better.

Since her first year of teaching in 1992, Tracy has implemented her Buddy Program. Twenty-three years of teaching and 6 campuses later her buddy program is a huge success! Tracy starts each school year off by making a disability awareness presentation to interested general education students. The students are then invited to “buddy” up with her students and include them in their daily school activites; mainly social activities, such as recess, lunch, grade level performances, PE, library and field trips. Students are taught to be role models, teachers, and friends to her students. The buddies receive awards such as buddy tags, certificates, a party each trimester and ultimately making new friends. At the end of the year, a buddy video is made and all the students watch together. This buddy program has also proved to be an inspiration to students as well. Students in general education have invited her students to parties and frequently ask to sit with them during assemblies and field trips. Last year a general education student, on her own initiative, requested to give Tracy’s students dance lessons. Additionally, some previous buddies have taken it upon themselves to start their own buddy activities after moving on to middle school and again in high school. These wonderful relationships have even become evident in the community, outside of school as well. Parents often comment to Tracy that general education students approach their children in places such as stores and parks and initiate a conversation with their children. The greatest success of Tracy’s program is that both her students and the general education students learn from each other. The mutual respect and understanding that the students show each other is evident and amazing!
Tracy’s next mission is to grow her buddy system and share her success with other schools. She has even started a blog to make the information readily available. http://krazteach.edublogs.org/
Tracy Lee is truly a Special World Changer!
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If you know a Special World Changer that you would like to nominate, please contact us.