Middle Gate Elementary School students learned about differences people can have at the school’s annual Diversity Day, held this year on March 1.

Fourth graders rotated stations to learn how to approach challenges people face with empathy and kindness. Through activities, students learned what it is like to maneuver with a wheelchair, have difficulty with fine motor skills, experience reduced sight, and interact with Guiding Eyes for the Blind dogs and handlers. In one classroom, students also learned from presenter Carl DeStefanis, a teacher of the hearing impaired, about challenges deaf students can face and ways to better interact with students who are deaf.

“It can be hard to put on buttons,” said Chris Shope while at the fine motor skills station. He wore thick gloves and attempted to put on a large oversized coat to experience diminished fine motor skills.

The stations were set up in the school’s gymnasium. At one station, students maneuvered while blindfolded through obstacles using a cane to help indicate where to walk. At the end of the path, students were handed a piece of chalk to try to write their name while blindfolded. Some students found writing their names more difficult than others. In another section of the event, students watched videos to learn about adaptive skiing, dyslexia, and more.

Fourth grade teacher Linda Baron, parent Julie Mauri, paraprofessional Darlene Jones, and other volunteers coordinated the day.