Special needs students join high school dance team

KATY, TX (KTRK) -- There's something about the first football game of the year -- a certain feeling in the air like anything could happen to anyone.

"Inclusion to me means being a part of everyday activities that other kids are able to enjoy," explained Monica McDivitt.

This year, Monica's daughter, Sam, is a member of Seven Lakes High's JV dance team, the Spartanaires.

Sam has a chromosome abnormality that has given her several disabilities.

But, tonight, Sam and two other special needs girls performed with the team.

"It gives them a high school experience, which is super important to me. That they get to feel like they're a part of high school and they aren't closed off in one room or one hallway of the high school. They're part of a team," said their teacher, Katie Hilliard.

The three girls don't speak much, so it's hard to tell exactly what they're thinking, but everybody has the same reaction the first time they got on a football field.

"The latest doctors we've been to have told us that she has only two years to live," explained Nubia Smith about her daughter, Hazel. "We work very hard every day to make her feel happy and for her to have happy hours, happy times with music and everything she likes."