05/16/2019．Wenzao Sports Day: The Start of A Friendly Campus

The 37th Sports Day of Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages was successfully held on April 12th. Sports Day is a traditional event of Wenzao and carries out the mission of Ursuline education, which is to improve students’ physical health through sport, develop a sense of coherence, and create a pleasant atmosphere on campus. The faculty and students were all committed to organizing the Sports Day. The Center for Physical Education held a series of preliminary and organization meetings starting from last November. Everyone from executives of departments/centers/graduate institutes to student association officers was excited about the event and ready to demonstrate the 3L quality of Wenzaorians. The spirit of equal rights and inclusive education on campus were also embodied on the field. Students with special needs participated in competitions to enjoy the fun of sports with normal students.

In addition to freshman orientation service, gender equality education, professional training and psychological growth courses, the Counseling Center of the Office of Student Affairs is responsible for creating a friendly and barrier-free campus. The Center therefore participated in the Sports Day as a team consisting of volunteers, faculty members and inclusive education students. The faculty of the Center made thorough preparations to test aids in advance for developing a way for students with wheelchairs or visual impairments to participate in games without changing the competition rules. Teacher Ya-Yun Chuang indicated that Wenzao has always been an inclusive campus and many inclusive education students actively participate in class activities, including team sports, relay race and tug of war, on Sports Day. With the effort of Vice President Chong-Wey Lin, disabled students had fun with the faculty and other students during the 37th Sports Day. All obstacles were solved or minimized to allow all kinds of students to enjoy school activities to achieve the mission of creating a friendly campus.

Teacher Ting-Yu Lin shared that inclusive education students came to “have fun” instead of achieving good results. A graduating inclusive education student received a prize for the team of the Counseling Center at the end of the Sports Day. The student stood up from the electric wheelchair and took the prize and gift from Vice President Lin. The audience gave the student a huge ovation. It was an unforgettable and touching moment for athletes and Wenzaorians.

The Ministry of Education has been conducting a Barrier-free Campus Survey and Student Training Program since 2018 to enable disabled students of higher education institutions to engage in different internal activities and support institutions to collect information regarding their barrier-free campuses. Normal and disabled students are expected to participate in the program and help each other to create a barrier-free learning environment. Wenzao takes one step closer to achieving campus equality with our first sporting event involving disabled students. This successful experience will set a good example for organizing similar activities in creating an outstanding and friendly language university.