‘What keeps me in education:’ Salem-Keizer’s Unified Summer Program teaches inclusion, builds friendships

A staff member in a neon green shirt holds up a hula hoop as five middle schoolers jostle for the prime position in front of her. When a student reaches the front, he quickly raises the paper airplane clutched in his hand and launches it toward the hoop. 

Groans of frustration echo through the halls of Sprague High School when the plane veers off course, hitting the wall next to the staff member instead. The…