DUNMORE, Pa. — Students from 18 school districts gathered inside the Greater Scranton YMCA in Dunmore to unite Special Olympic athletes and their peers in the Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools program. Each school has a team made up of typical and special needs students, promoting social inclusion through sports, like track and field or bocce.
"Sports is just one component for unified champion schools. There's also youth leadership and whole school engagement activities," said Heather Schreiner, Special Olympics Northeast Region Executive Director.
More than 370 schools in Pennsylvania are Unified Champion Schools, hoping to give special needs students more opportunities.
"We're really working on the inclusion piece and how we can get inclusion out into our school, getting more regular students and special students involved," said Heather Cantando, a Lakeland Unified track coach.
"They don't generally get to connect with other schools, doing the same thing. We have two of our typical students and two of our students with special needs here today and are working with other schools, which is a cool experience for them," said Angela Avillion, a Hazleton Area unified coach.
Many of the teachers and coaches say they have seen an improvement in the students who participate in these events.
"That team for him made him so much better behaved, it was amazing to see," said Abbey Rodway, a Wyoming Valley West unified track coach.
"Being part of extracurricular events is bridging that gap between regular education and special education," said Tricia Marnell, a Hazleton Area unified coach.
Aaron Keller is not only a coach but a Special Olympics athlete himself. Aaron hopes to be a role model for these students and what they can achieve.
"Then I can tell them I'm an athlete and maybe these students will not just become a unified athlete for school but a special athlete in general," Keller said.
Organizers hope to grow their unified sports programs with more school districts starting teams.
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