NEW HANOVER COUNTY — Special Olympics North Carolina announced that eight Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools in North Carolina are receiving national banner recognition, including Charles P. Murray Middle School in New Hanover County.
The school is being recognized for efforts to provide inclusive sports and activities for students with and without disabilities for the 2024-25 school year. Each school will be presented with a banner to hang in their school. The other recognized schools include:
- Beverly Woods Elementary School, Mecklenburg County
- Bunn Middle School, Franklin County
- Cramerton Middle School, Gaston County
- Duke University, Durham County
- Francis Bradley Middle School, Mecklenburg County
- Idlewild Elementary, Mecklenburg County
- Swansboro High School, Onslow County
Schools are receiving this distinguished status as a result of meeting 10 national standards of excellence in the areas of inclusion, advocacy and respect. These standards were developed by a national panel of leaders from Special Olympics and the education community.
Unified Champion Schools is a strategy for schools, Pre-K through university, that intentionally promotes meaningful social inclusion by bringing together students with and without intellectual disabilities to create accepting school environments, utilizing three interconnected components: Unified Sports, inclusive youth leadership and whole school engagement. As many as 19.5 million young people are taking part in inclusive experiences through Special Olympics.
Nearly 600 schools are currently participating in Unified Champion Schools programming in North Carolina, as part of 10,842 schools across the country engaged in the program. Unified Champion Schools aims to expand to 20,000 schools by 2030.
Tips or comments? Email info@portcitydaily.com.
Want to read more from PCD? Subscribe now and then sign up for our morning newsletter, Wilmington Wire, and get the headlines delivered to your inbox every morning.
