When creating a culture of inclusion, you need to look no further than the Unified Champion Schools® goal – that schools and communities welcome all people.
The Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools program promotes social inclusion through intentionally planned and implemented activities for change in K-12 schools and across college campuses.
There are three components of effective activities (Unified Sports®, Inclusive Youth Leadership, and Whole-School Engagement). POET, through its Community Impact Grant, will support all three components.
- Whole School Engagement gives a climate of inclusion in classrooms. Unified Champion Schools® provides materials for our Spread the Word campaign. The banners, pencils, and posters that are given out to students call for their commitment to change, inspiring others to follow suit and join the collective effort to eliminate discriminatory language and bullying, and promoting inclusion.
- Inclusive Youth Leadership equips students with leadership skills to build upon, creating a culture of inclusion within the school walls.
- Unified Sports® brings people both with and without intellectual disabilities together to compete on the same team. Young individuals with disabilities often do not get the chance to step off the bench and onto the court to play on their schools’ teams. Through this, Special Olympics is promoting social inclusion through shared sports training and competition experiences.
In the 2026- 2027 season, POET will create meaningful opportunities for students across South Dakota by supporting the continued growth of Unified Sports® through our Unified Basketball Rivalry Series. A Unified Sports Rivalry game is a Special Olympics Unified Sports game where each team represents one rival team. Games are played during halftime of the men’s or women’s basketball games.
POET’s partnership will also allow us to provide materials for Spread the Word, purchase sporting equipment, and provide Play Books for each grade level so they can join in on the Inclusion Revolution.
POET’s partnership with Special Olympics South Dakota demonstrates the profound impact of collaboration between businesses and nonprofits. We are incredibly thankful for POET choosing the Unified Champion Schools® for their grant opportunity. It will continue to help us spread our mission of inclusion.
