Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

It was a fun site for anybody walking into Ove Berven Gym or Packer Gym Thursday afternoon and seeing it filled with kids and smiles.

Thursday was the second Unified Basketball Day in Austin, which brings kids with developmental disabilities together with their peers for a day of basketball and friendship. It is an opportunity with an importance that can’t be understated, because this mixing of students from all reaches of the school only heightens the everyday student experience that the district has put so much time and effort into.

Created last year by physical education teacher Jacy Brodi, this year’s event included teams from Austin, Fairmont, Zumbrota-Mazeppa and Winona, a growth of schools by two from 2024.

While the event is a fun time for all of the students involved, it also recognizes the school’s Peer Partner program that seeks to unite students of different abilities. This is important on its own, because every student attending Austin Public Schools and any other school should have the opportunity of experience. To be a meaningful part of the school they attend.

It also gives students somebody to look up to, to expand their horizons and most importantly, expand their circle of friends.

For those students helping out through the Peer Power Program, they get an insight into the uniqueness every student has and it tends to give much needed perspective.

Only good things can come from this melding of students and the idea that more schools took part this year is an indication of the involvement other schools look for.

And finally, it’s just a fun event for all — even those watching. The joy that filled these gyms Thursday was almost beyond belief and something that we should all want to see more of.

Ultimately, at the end of the day, kids — all kids — need an outlet like this  that allows them some fun with their friends.