Daily Reporter staff report
GREENFIELD — Special Olympics Indiana and Greenfield-Central Community School Corp. (GCCSC) spent the past year working together to engage students in activities designed to promote school communities where young people are agents of change: fostering respect, dignity and advocacy for people with intellectual disabilities.
Through this program, known as Unified Champion Schools, children of all abilities are given opportunities to develop self-confidence and social skills while learning the fundamentals necessary for participation in Unified Sports® training and competition.
Greenfield-Central schools are among the hundreds of preschools, elementary, middle and high schools across the state embracing Special Olympics’ approach to improving social inclusion while simultaneously meeting the state educational standards for developing motor skills. More than 10,000 Indiana students participated in the program during the 2017-2018 school year.
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The annual culmination of Unified Champion Schools programs is one or more Unified Game Days, held each spring and featuring a Special Olympics-style competition in a variety of unified track and field events. Greenfield-Central schools played host to two game days. The first was at Greenfield-Central High School for kindergartners through sixth-graders. The second was at J.B. Stephens Elementary for preschool students.
More than 100 Greenfield-Central students in preschool through sixth grade participated in the May Game Days. Parents and supporters were invited to attend the event, which included an opening ceremony featuring a law enforcement torch run with officers from Hancock County Sheriff’s Department and Greenfield Police Department.
Learn more about Unified Champion Schools by visiting specialolympics.org/unified-champion-schools, or contact state Director of Unified Champion Schools Mark Booth at [email protected].
