What is a
Unified Champion Schools® School?
A Unified Champion Schools® (UCS) school is focused on inclusion as a core value of their community, using a combination of all three program components; Unified Sports®, inclusive youth leadership, and whole school engagement. In a Unified Champion Schools® school there is an understanding that inclusion is not just an incident or event that happens for one day, but rather year-round support with seasonal sports, clubs, and events. In a Unified Champion Schools school there is an expectation that acceptance and inclusion are everyday occurrences that drive the entire school culture and impact the whole student body.
Components of Unified Champion Schools
1
Unified Sports®
Unified Sports brings students with intellectual disabilities and students without intellectual disabilities together to train, compete and represent your school in team sports. Special education teachers have reported the program to be extremely effective at impacting youth, promoting physical activity and inspiring leadership. One teacher reported: “I’ve seen more interaction on the field today between classmates than I’ve seen in my classroom all year.”
Click here for more information Unified Sports.
2
Inclusive Youth Leadership
“Nothing for us, without us.”
Inclusive Youth Leadership is when young people of all abilities are given opportunities to be leaders in their schools and communities. These leadership activities help students find their voices and teach them to become change agents in their communities by promoting equity and acceptance.
The principle of meaningful involvement within inclusive youth leadership ensures every student is given an opportunity to contribute due to the unique skills and qualities they bring to their club, team, and work.
3
Whole School Engagement
Unified Champions Schools is a program meant to bring inclusion and understanding to the entire school community. Providing awareness and learning opportunities, schoolwide book club, morning meetings, promoting and cheering for your Unified Sports teams like all other schools sports, and joining national inclusion campaigns are great ways to engage your entire student body in the Inclusion Revolution!
How to start your Journey!
Contact your Regional Manager!
Northeast – Heather Wheaton
Central Western – Duane Hall
Southern – Geoff Godo
Being a Unified Champion School is as easy as implementing even one activity in your school with inclusion as the focus. Some of the best places to start are:
Every March, Special Olympics and Best Buddies come togheter for a nation-wide inclusion campaign, “Spread the Word, to End the Word.” Its original goal was to reduce the use of the “R word,” and has since expanded to also promote inclusive actions and words.
Special Olympics Maine will provide each participating school with one large banner for pledge signatures, 5 t-shirts for the organizing committee, and 100 campaign stickers. Additional items are available for purchase if you would like. Registration for this event begins in December.
PE classes are a great space to begin bringing students with and without intellectual disabilities together. Unified PE is not a full curriculum, but rather is an instructional strategy often utilized as a mid-point between a general PE class and an Adaptive PE class. This class structure offers great physical activity and social interaction to begin building better understanding of individual difference to serve as a foundation for community building.
The addition of Unified PE does not change or replace the critical need for the specially designed instruction that is provided through APE. A student may even concurrently be in Unified PE and a separate small group APE class, if this best meets their individual special education needs.
For more information, view the Unified PE page and resources from Special Olypmics North America.
Meet other student leaders, share ideas, and take action for inclusion.
Interested in learning more about how to start a Unified Champion Schools® program in your school?