The Inclusion Revolution: Special Olympics holds first “Live Unified” for metro students with disabilities
March 14, 2023 – Hundreds of students gathered at Target Center Tuesday for the first “Live Unified” event. “You hear this all the time in the workplace, especially now, we need to be more inclusive, we need to be more welcoming,” said Dave Dorn, president and CEO of Special Olympics Minnesota. “Well this is where it starts. It starts with our youth.”
Mayo High School hosts second annual mobile Polar Plunge
March 31, 2023 – “It means a lot to see that their school is creating a culture of inclusion, where were accepting and loving and going out of our way to intentionally build relationships with students with special needs here at Mayo High school and our hope is that they take this experience and go out in the community go out in their jobs and go out of their way to build relationships,” Coordinator Colin Thomas explained.
A “Unified” approach to special education is changing lives at a MN middle school
March 16, 2023 – In December, the school once again set the standard for inclusivity, winning the Special Olympics Minnesota Inclusive School Week Challenge. “We were competing to show how awesome our Unified program is here, and how inclusive everyone is,” said South View student Andi Donovan. “It’s easy for us because we all hang out. We’re actual friends.”
Bemidji High School’s first-ever Special Olympics basketball match-up unifies community
February 9, 2023 – “This is absolutely a historic event. This is the first Unified basketball game where two schools have come together to play,” said Shannon Murray, schools program manager for northern Minnesota’s Special Olympics events.
Bemidji High School Hosts First-Ever Unified Basketball Game
February 8, 2023 – Wednesday nights are usually pretty quiet on the high school scene, but tonight at Bemidji High School, it was anything but quiet.
Bethel University Breaks Down Barriers for Student Athletes with Intellectual Disabilities
November 8, 2022 – Unified Schools is a growing Special Olympics program in 60 countries supporting inclusive curriculum for diverse learners through sport—and it lets kids lead the way. There are millions of youth taking steps to rewrite and build not only their future, but the world’s future.
What happens when a global program allows Special Olympics athletes and their classmates to lead? Bullying declines and grades improve.
September 29, 2022 – Unified Schools is a growing Special Olympics program in 60 countries supporting inclusive curriculum for diverse learners through sport—and it lets kids lead the way. There are millions of youth taking steps to rewrite and build not only their future, but the world’s future.
Prep football: “Everybody wins” with Unified sports
September 23, 2022 – “The whole idea behind Unified is bringing special education and general education students together to do things inside of school and, ideally, outside of school,” Mike Doyle said. “COVID really put a big damper on that, but we’re starting to see things coming back now.”
This is South View Middle School
September 7, 2022 – South View Middle School is a Special Olympics Unified Champion School in Edina, Minnesota. When Unified programs first arrived at South View, first-year teacher Jenni Schaefer was initially overwhelmed. But her students quickly embraced inclusion and began to drive the programming.
Duluth East hosts Unified Sports Special Olympics day
May 24, 2022 – “I love this so much. When I was in school, inclusion wasn’t happening. Like people were separated, I wasn’t with a lot of my peers, so to be able to provide students with opportunities to be together and to have fun and to really build school cultures of inclusion, it’s the best job ever,” said Shannon Murray, Unified Schools Coordinator for Northern Minnesota.
Unified Sports Track and Field Day
May 24, 2022 – Students from Cook County, Cloquet, Proctor, and Duluth East met up today for a day full of fun activities. It’s all part of a special program that matches Special Olympic student athletes and athletes without disabilities. Duluth East High school plans to continue hosting this event in the future, with the ultimate goal of becoming an official Unified Champion School.
‘He’s Genuinely My Friend’: Monticello Unified Programs Forging Lifelong Bonds
February 15, 2021 – Students from Cook County, Cloquet, Proctor, and Duluth East met up today for a day full of fun activities. It’s all part of a special program that matches Special Olympic student athletes and athletes without disabilities.
DAPE class partners with Special Olympics
February 11, 2021 – The Grand Rapids High School Developmental Adaptive Physical Education (DAPE) class has partnered with Special Olympics to join as a Unified Physical Education class. This was a unique opportunity for students of varying ability levels and backgrounds to come together on equal terms through ongoing fitness, sports, leadership and wellness activities.
Minnesota Elementary School Showcases Success from SHAPE America Partnership Through Unified PE
January 24, 2021 – At Aquila Elementary School, located in Minnesota’s St. Louis Park Public School District, the lessons learned through inclusion are a focal point. Teaching Unified PE, Tom Roberts, Current Past President of MNSHAPE and Physical Education Specialist, says “this class has taught our students to be more empathetic, kind, and aware of our students with disabilities.”
Fridley Middle School hosts inaugural Special Olympics Minnesota Cool School Mobile Polar Plunge
December 18, 2021 – Fridley Middle School students and staff braved frigid waters to rally around acceptance and inclusion as the school hosted its first Special Olympics Minnesota Cool School Mobile Polar Plunge Dec. 1.
Unified Club spreads message of inclusion at Champlin Park
December 13, 2021 – It’s not every day that high school students have the opportunity to leave campus and go bowling, but a recent trip to Bowlero in Brooklyn Park wasn’t a normal field trip for a group of Champlin Park students.