Joey Vacca
ASU Student Journalist

Valley Christian's VINE Program: Helping everybody get in the spotlight

November 13, 2020 by Joey Vacca, Arizona State University


Valley Christian's Sherome Weatherspoon is a member of the Trojan football team and the VINE Program.

Joey Vacca is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Valley Christian High School for AZPreps365.com

Seventeen years ago, Debbie Weidinger was getting ready to send her son off to high school. Like all parents, choosing the school where her child would spend four of the most important years of his life was a crucial decision. 

She knew she wanted her son to be the beneficiary of the same sort of Christian education that her daughter received at Valley Christian, but it was more difficult this time around. Unlike her daughter, her son has autism. This meant there would need to be special accommodations and she would likely have to look for public schooling with more well-equipped special education resources. 

“And that broke my heart,” Weidinger said. “That broke my heart that my son was not able to access a similar education that my daughter did. Because Valley had no place for him then.” 

The emphasis is on “then.” While it was a trying time for Weidinger, much has changed at Valley Christian in the years after her son entered high school.

Fourteen years ago, a student named Clint Sanniec watched his older siblings attend Valley Christian and eagerly told his parents all the things he planned to do when he went there. Unfortunately, due to Sanniec’s own special needs, it looked like that would not be a possibility. After repeated pleading, Sanniec’s parents met with school administration and received a grant from a family friend. As a result, they were able to help develop the VINE Program in order to allow Sanniec to attend Valley. 

VINE is an acronym for “Valley’s Individual Needs Enhancement.” The program helps students with special needs be more equipped to succeed in their classes while fully immersing them in the student body. Thanks to the VINE Program, Sanniec was not only able to just be on the Valley football team, but was the starting kicker when the Trojans won the state championship in 2009. 

Since Sanniec, more and more students have been involved in other extracurricular activities at Valley when they would not be able to at other schools. From student government to sports to the arts, VINE has allowed dozens of students to be more than just included over the years. And Weidinger, now a teacher in the VINE program, beams with pride when she sees all that her students are doing.

“When I see some of my students on the field, that is the moment I recognize their superpower,” she said. “They are an integral part of the student body when they are in their sport. And sometimes, quite frankly, they are the star.”

Under director Barbara Hunsaker, even more students have had the opportunity to be the star. Hunsaker, who had experience as a special education teacher, took over as Director of Special Education at Valley Christian eight years ago. And in her time as director, Hunsaker has grown the program significantly. The program currently averages between 40 and 50 students per year, a large increase from the 25 student average when Hunsaker took the reigns.

“There are a number of families who come to Valley Christian specifically because of the VINE Program,” Hunsaker said. “We’re the only Christian school in the area that has a fully developed special education program.”

And with that increase means more participation in extracurriculars across campus.

Valley Christian’s head football coach, Jake Petersen, has seen many students with a wide range of different special needs come into the football program with help from VINE. While this is only Petersen’s first year as the head coach, he has been involved in the program for seven seasons. He has coached players with all different kinds of special needs, including having at least one player with autism on the team in each of the past three seasons. 

But when it comes to coaching his players, Petersen tries to teach more than just the game.

“It’s about learning to be a great person and a great community member,” he said. “When these guys get a chance to participate, they’re not just learning sports. When they can be in a community of people where they might not be part of a sport somewhere else, it really lifts them up.”

Under Petersen, these players do more than just suit up. He makes sure they see time on the field at least once a game and one player even scored a touchdown last season. Petersen recognized that because of the program, these players are treated differently by their peers than they would be if they were somewhere else. 

“When you see that happen, it brings validation to what you do,” he said. “That you’re doing these things for the right reasons.”

Over the years, Hunsaker and her team have seen many different students come through Valley Christian. And while they play a slightly different role in each one’s life, ensuring that each has their own opportunities and feels cared for is what makes it all worth it.