{"id":18270,"date":"2017-09-06T16:22:18","date_gmt":"2017-09-06T20:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=18270"},"modified":"2017-09-06T16:22:18","modified_gmt":"2017-09-06T20:22:18","slug":"york-regions-special-needs-students-get-pumped-for-hoedown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/york-regions-special-needs-students-get-pumped-for-hoedown\/","title":{"rendered":"York Region\u2019s special needs students get pumped for Hoedown"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Derek Bunn is already pumped \u2013 and what\u2019s pumping him up is still just over a week away.
\nThe York Region School Board teacher is starting to lose sleep with excitement for the third annual Student Hoedown, which will take over the Big Top of the Magna Corral on Friday, September 15 for the third year running.
\nThe Student Hoedown, an event tailor-made for special needs students from both the YRDSB and the York Catholic District School Board, is the brainchild of Mr. Bunn, who works with special needs students at Sutton District High School.
\nNoticing that the Hoedown Tent is only put to special use for a fraction of the time it graces Wellington Street East, he suggested Magna put it to good use for the students.
\nThe result has become a hallmark of the Hoedown weekend and is set to welcome a record 1,000 students, plus teachers and caregivers this year.
\n\u201cThere is excitement in the air,\u201d says Mr. Bunn. \u201cThis is our third time doing it and we always say the third time is the charm, so it is pretty special. It is just having everyone in the tent, the music, the excitement, and the music doesn\u2019t even have to play and you can just feel the energy from the kids and the adults coming into the tent. I am pumped!\u201d
\nIf the past two student Hoedowns are any indication, Mr. Bunn and other people instrumental to its organization will arrive at 7.30 a.m.
\nStudents and staff will begin to arrive by 9.30, usually greeted by friendly faces from Magna and Neighbourhood Network, and, of course, a few cows and horses who have trotted over to the occasion.
\nThe tent will already be decked out in hay bales, and other wild, west d\u00e9cor and the atmosphere will be electric.
\nSoon enough, the cameras and the phones will be out as students snap away, catch up with old friends, and eagerly wait for the party to begin.
\nEmceed by country singer Beverley Mahood, the entertainment will feature the Top 10 Finalists competing for the Hoedown Showdown.
\n\u201cBefore [the Hoedown I hear from some of the supports] that the students might not be able to do a lot of physical movement as some have such severe physical difficulties, but they are moving in their chairs,\u201d says Mr. Bunn. \u201cThey are wiggling that finger, kicking out that foot, and they have a big smile from ear to ear and that is great. It just means so much to me that they are enjoying the day.
\n\u201cFor the students, even though it is only the second week of school, they are saying it is the best event of the school year! I love to hear that feedback. Neighbourhood Network and Magna go out of their way to accommodate the tent for us, to have a platform for students in wheelchairs so they don\u2019t have to go across the bumpy ground. They are very conscious of the noise levels and have the light just a little bit brighter for those who might get nervous in the dark light, maybe lower the volume a little bit, so all those kinds of things make it special. And it informs our community that our students with special needs can contribute; we just have to make some minor accommodations for them to enjoy it.\u201d
\nWith a record number of special needs students ready to descend upon the tent, Mr. Bunn, even with its exceptional growth, says 1,000 might be a pretty good size number for the road ahead. They want it to be a \u201cmanageable, fun opportunity\u201d for everyone and it might lose that special something if it gets too big.
\n\u201cSometimes when events get too big, perhaps not everyone\u2019s needs can be met safely,\u201d says Mr. Bunn. \u201cWe really try to work with Neighbourhood Network in order to create a safe environment for everyone. I think we really want to recognize this is becoming a staple of the Magna weekend, knowing this is a constant. I have that feeling right now, but we would just like to solidify it more and know this is a yearly event, a contributing event.\u201d
\nAnd, importantly for Mr. Bunn, the teachers, caregivers, everyone else involved in making this event a reality, it underscores that this is an event where special needs students can contribute back to their community in a meaningful way.
\n\u201cThere is something for everyone and students and kids are encouraged to get up and dance and to wander around and see people and just have a great time and, of course, contribute to the charities,\u201d he says. \u201cOn a larger GTA basis this is probably one of the largest special needs fundraising events \u2013 not fundraising for special needs, but special needs fundraising for charities.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Derek Bunn is already pumped \u2013 and what\u2019s pumping him up is still just over a week away.
\nThe York Region School Board teacher is starting to lose sleep with excitement for the third annual Student Hoedown, which will take over the Big Top of the Magna Corral on Friday, September 15 for the third year running.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/2017-09-07-05.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4KG","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-23 16:06:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}