North Penn High School (NPHS), a Special Olympics Pennsylvania Unified Champion School, hosted a special banner presentation to acknowledge NPHS' national recognition for its outstanding efforts to provide inclusive sports and activities for students with and without disabilities.
According to Special Olympics, 2018, only 132 schools nationwide achieved national banner recognition, including just one in 2017 and four in 2018 for Pennsylvania.
NPHS received this honor as a result of meeting national standards of excellence in the areas of inclusion, advocacy and respect, which places it be among a select number of schools to receive this distinction. The special school assembly included a small program featuring cheering students, athlete and Unified Partner testimonials, guest speakers, a banner unveiling and more.
To be selected for this recognition, NPHS proved its commitment to inclusion and demonstrated that it met or exceeded 10 standards of excellence developed by a national panel of leaders from Special Olympics and the education community (click here for more information). This is evidenced by a multitude of teams, events and initiatives held at NPHS over the last few years, including the inception of a Unified Track Team during the 2016-2017 school year and a Unified Bocce Team in the 2017-2018 school year that earned the Pennsylvania State Championship Title this past spring.
The primary activities within these standards include: Special Olympics Unified Sports® (where students with and without disabilities train and compete as teammates, click here to learn more), Inclusive Youth Leadership (click here to learn more) and Whole-School Engagement (click here to learn more). Banner Unified Champion Schools are also be able to demonstrate that they are self-sustainable or have a plan in place to sustain these activities into the future.
More than 125 schools are currently participating in Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools programming in Pennsylvania as part of more than 5,000 schools across the country engaged in the program. Special Olympics has a global goal of creating 10,000 Unified Champion Schools by 2020.
About Special Olympics Pennsylvania
Special Olympics Pennsylvania (SOPA) provides year-round training and competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports to nearly 20,000 children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, and experience joy. For more information, visit our website at www.specialolympicspa.org.
Click here to see more photos.