National Hero Visits Sachem’s Sequoya Middle School
 
 (Long Island, N.Y.) On Tuesday, March 17, the Sachem School District welcomed a surprise visit by Darius Weems, star of the multi-award winning documentary, Darius Goes West, to Sequoya Middle School.
 
“Darius is a true hero. He has inspired us to help others and to follow our dreams,” said a Sequoya Middle School student.
 
The award-winning documentary is a story of brotherhood, as fifteen-year-old Darius, who suffers from a deadly muscular disorder known as Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), and eleven of his close friends take a road-trip from Georgia to California to try and get Darius’ wheelchair customized on MTV’s hit show, Pimp My Ride.
 
The middle school students were shown an advanced screening of the documentary in their health classes. In-depth discussions of the film during class laid important groundwork for promoting tolerance and advocacy for those with disabilities. Sequoya students were motivated to celebrate diversity and equality. In October 2008, the district also welcomed a surprise visit by Darius to both Sachem High School North and East. It was evident from Darius’s overwhelming reception that his message will be indelibly engrained in the hearts and minds of Sachem’s students.