Special Olympics Kansas has announced that all Gardner Edgerton School District schools have signed on to be a part of Special Olympics Kansas Unified Champion Schools for the 2023-2024 school year.
The primary activities within this programming include Special Olympics Unified Sports®, where students with and without disabilities train and compete as teammates, Unified PE classes, inclusive youth leadership, and whole school engagement.
“It is clear from talking to teachers and district stakeholders that Gardner Edgerton values inclusion and is committed to finding new ways to include all students meaningfully. The teachers have taken our resources and run with them. I’m so excited to see USD 231 help lead inclusion efforts and get kids with and without disabilities participating in activities together,” said Caitlin Pierce, the Schools Program Manager at Special Olympics Kansas.
Unified Champion Schools is a strategy for schools Pre-K through university that intentionally promotes meaningful social inclusion by bringing together students with and without intellectual disabilities to create accepting school environments, utilizing three interconnected components: Unified Sports, inclusive youth leadership, and whole school engagement. As many as 19.5 million young people participate in inclusive experiences through Special Olympics.
More than 130 schools are participating in Unified Champion Schools programming in Kansas as part of 8,300 nationwide engaged in the program. Unified Champion Schools aims to expand to 10,000 schools by the end of the 2023-2024 school year.
The Office of Special Education Programs at the U.S. Department of Education supports the unified Champion Schools model. Through research, this model has been proven to be an effective and replicable means of providing students with and without disabilities the opportunity to form positive social relationships and promote a socially inclusive school climate.
ABOUT SPECIAL OLYMPICS KANSAS
Special Olympics Kansas is dedicated to empowering individuals with intellectual disabilities to become physically fit, productive, and respected members of society through sports competitions, health and nutrition programs, and leadership development. Offering year-round initiatives to children and adults with intellectual disabilities, Special Olympics Kansas is a platform for acceptance and inclusion and one of the state's most significant advocates for healthy lifestyles - regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, or cultural differences.
Participation in sports enables challenges and opportunities to be introduced to the participants, teaching them teamwork, decision-making, leadership, goal-setting, perseverance, commitment, and sportsmanship while developing self-confidence, self-esteem, character, and integrity.
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