By Foster Guns, Staff Writer
Teacher by day, scarer by night. Sam Iulo’s two worlds intersect in the form of “Spooking for Change,” a fundraiser held at her farm, benefiting her students.
The idea came about when she met a special student who helped her realize the effect that horses can have on people.
“Many years ago, one of the first students with autism came to Dare County Schools, and he had been going to see horses with a speech therapist,” Iulo said. “The speech therapist left the school system, so he stopped being able to go see the horses with her. One day he just had a meltdown and we didn’t know why.”
The horses had such an impact on the student’s ability to learn and develop his speech, and he was upset that he could no longer see them. Thankfully, Iulo had her own farm with plenty of horses for the child to interact with.
“I actually put them on a behavior plan where I would take him out to see the horses,” Iulo said. “And then the following year, he was doing so well that instead of him having a separate teacher, he just was included in part of the class. I would take the whole class out to see the horses, so that he could continue doing that.”
She soon realized the impact that being on the farm had on her students. Trips like this are what led her to get her therapeutic riding instructor certification. But this wasn’t the first time Iulo had been exposed to the world of horseback riding.
“When I was younger, I was a volunteer at a program that was started by one of the people that started the whole organization [PATH Intl. (Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International)], the international organization that certifies people for therapeutic horseback riding and farms,” Iulo said.
Her love for horses is what drove her to buy a farm in Currituck County, which is the site of her “Spooking for Change” haunted hayride, held every Saturday in October.
One of her volunteers is FFHS senior Peyton Harris, who has been riding with Iulo since she moved to the Outer Banks last year, and has nothing but fond feelings for the cause.
“Sam is the sweetest person ever,” Harris said. “She was one of the first people here who really welcomed me to the school and everything, so I want to help her as much as I possibly can.”
Harris expressed her love and admiration for the program, as she has helped with therapeutic horse rides and the Special Olympics.
“They’ve done a lot and I wanted to give back to them as well,” Harris said while talking about the non-profit.
Iulo came up with this idea because her hayride donates all the proceeds to the Mane and Tail program, a program that is constantly supporting her students, as well as her own barn.
“Mane and Tail is a program that provides horsemanship and horseback riding and access to farm animals to people with special needs, including cognitive, physical, emotional, behavioral, so we kind of cover all the rounds of special needs,” Iulo said. “We do work with people with mental health issues as well.”
Iulo has now been successfully running her fundraiser since 2009, and in 2010, it became an official nonprofit. The business continues to thrive, but Iulo has kept in mind a simple message.
“The ultimate goal is treating everybody with kindness and equality and respect,” Iulo said. “That’s what is great about horses because horses treat everybody with equality and respect.”
Junior Foster Guns can be reached at 24gunsfo54@daretolearn.org.
