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Imagine your school as a Unified Champion School:
As you walk through the front door of the school, the positive atmosphere speaks volumes. Students and adults are greeting each other and chatting, welcoming visitors to the school with a smile. The walls and bulletin boards are filled with diverse student work and posters highlighting inclusive club activities and inclusive exploratory programs. A banner stating, “Special Olympics Unified Champion School,” has a special place in the entry hall.
All visitors are escorted around the school by an inclusive pair of school ambassadors—one student with and one without an intellectual disability. The Ambassador Program is a program started by the Inclusive Leadership Team. The obviously proud students eagerly walk you through the hallways and explain how the interdisciplinary teams have different social inclusion celebrations. It becomes obvious that one team is having a door-decorating contest. Groups of students have taken over their hallway to create doors that support the school’s Choose to Include campaign. Watching them work, you can see how students with and without intellectual disabilities work together to share ideas as they complete their door.
The students share that last year the Unified Club for eighth grade teams organized pep rallies for every intramural and interscholastic competition with a Fans in the Stands cheering section at all Unified games. The members of the Unified Club for the seventh grade teams focused on making the lunchroom a welcoming place by ensuring the walls were filled with a diverse collection of art and announcements of inclusive events. The sixth grade team worked on a presentation to their feeder elementary schools as part of a service-learning project. Designed to support fifth graders transitioning from elementary school, the presentation addressed social inclusion opportunities that would be available to them in middle school.
As student opportunities for inclusive engagement are not limited to the Unified Club, the Student Council assisted with these presentations. As you continue, you peek into an advisor-advisee class and notice that the teacher is using a lesson from Special Olympics Activities and Lessons. Students are watching and reacting to Unified Talks and learning about identity, belonging, teamwork, and empowerment. Social inclusion has become an ongoing topic for discussion, and the students are gaining a greater understanding about the importance of students being engaged in the school.
As you walk by the gymnasium, you notice an inclusive physical education class where students are participating on Unified teams. Your tour guides enthusiastically tell you about Unified Sports and explain that they both play on a team. In addition to the ongoing bocce tournaments that take place during lunch, there are both Unified basketball and soccer teams. Your school guides explain how the members of the Unified Club were instrumental in getting Unified Sports started at the school and how they continually work to engage more students on the teams.
As you exit, you leave with a smile on your face and many stories to share with others. It is clear that this is a school that fully embraces social inclusion and is creating a school environment where all students are engaged and successful. It is truly a Unified Champion School!
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