The Unified Champion City Schools (UCCS) initiative is a top priority for the Special Olympics North America (SONA) Region. The main goal of this initiative is accelerating growth in the number of schools partnering with Special Olympics in city school districts. To advance this goal, the first ever UCCS Summit will be held alongside the 2022 Special Olympics Unified Cup in Detroit. The Unified Cup is a global soccer tournament featuring Unified Sports teams representing countries around the world.

The summit will bring together youth, educators, administrators, community partners, and Special Olympics staff for three days of learning, relationship building and experiential activities at the Unified Cup. The summit will strive to engage participants representing all 28 Unified Champion City School sites around the country.

Note: Summit attendees will not be competing in the soccer tournament

Special Olympics Washington is looking to take ONE Unified Pair (two students – one youth with an intellectual or developmental disability (IDD) and one youth without IDD) and one adult mentor (staff member from the school you attend) to the summit. The goal will be to gain:

1. A stronger connection to the broader work taking place with UCCS around the country and a new set of peer connections.
2. A deeper understanding of Unified Champion Schools and practical implementation strategies to help advance the work within their school and district.
3. A more global perspective of Special Olympics through interactions with the overall Unified Cup.
4. A vision for how youth can continue their involvement with Special Olympics after high school.

Qualifications:

Youth going into 10^th or 11^th grade

Unified Pair must consist of two students (one youth with an Intellectual or developmental disability and one youth without Intellectual or developmental disability)

Must be able to commit to the above responsibilities

Must show willingness and ability to work as a team member

Must have the ability to work in a professional environment

*If you don’t know if your school is a Unified Champion School, email us to learn more.

What we need from you:

A completed application

One Adult Mentor**

**Your mentor is an adult from your school who will continue to advocate for Unified Programming along side the Unified Pair and be the schools contact for Unified Programming.

Application Deadline

Deadline is March 11^th, 2022

Click here to Apply

Click here to learn more about Unified Champion City Schools Summit.