The global day for 2019 Spread the World: Inclusion was Wednesday, March 6, 2019. However, our athletes, Unified Champion Schools, Young Professionals Committee, and Executive Advisory Board celebrated throughout the month.

Sayre High School created an art contest where students were asked to create a superhero with an anti-violent theme. Along with their drawing, students had to say what their superpowers were that made them an anti-violent superhero. Winners were chosen by the Unified Sports team. Hill Freedman World Academy took to the halls and collected online pledges where students agreed to include those who might need a friend or someone sitting on the sidelines. Middle Years Alternative (MYA) had students sign a banner than they hung to pledge their commitment to inclusion. 

Stradley Ronon staff donned the Spread the Word: Inclusion shirt and had information on how to get involved with Special Olympics PA – Philadelphia displayed on their televisions throughout the building. One of the employees at Stradley even got their daughters school involved where teachers wore the shirts too! Montgomery McCracken’s Veterans and Individuals with Disabilities group, a subgroup of the firm’s Diversity Committee, was proud to spearhead the Spread the Word event at their office. The attorneys and staff participated in a “Jeans Day” to raise money for Special Olympics PA – Philadelphia! If they donated to the cause, they were able to wear jeans and their Spread the Word shirts! Brandywine Realty Trust employees also had a dress down day and displayed our message on the jumbo screen at Commerce Square.

 

On October 17, 2018, Jefferson University hosted the 2018 Unified Youth Summit with the theme of “Make Inclusion a Lifetime Trend.”  Students gathered to learn how to work together with students with different personalities, how to be a leader who actively includes and motivates others around them, how to conduct successful Unified Club meetings, and tactics for fundraising. Participating schools included Abraham Lincoln, Ben Franklin, Edison, Frankford, Furness, George Washington, Hill Freedman World Academy, Kensington Health Sciences Academy, Martin Luther King, Northeast, Sayre, The School of the Future, Strawberry Mansion, and Universal Audenried Charter High Schools.

The program had kicked off with remarks from Chase Trimmer, Director of Special Olympics PA – Philadelphia, James Lynch, Executive Director of Athletics at The School District of Philadelphia, and Matt Aaron, President and CEO of Special Olympics Pennsylvania. During welcoming remarks, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln high schools were recognized for being Unified National Champion Schools. Once the opening remarks wrapped up, students split into groups with a facilitator from Jefferson Athletics. Throughout the morning, Jefferson student-athletes lead students through various activities to help them become better leaders within their school. Students started by sharing activities in their school that were student-led and student-driven. Next, each group was able to come up with new Whole School Engagement activities and create a plan for it. Students then learned the importance of how Spread the Word to End the Word (STW) and Respect campaigns are a good way for them to get more attention.

The activities took a break for lunch where the students were able to speak freely with one another in their groups and get to know each other better. Once lunch ended, students learned about the 2018 Philadelphia Polar Plunge and how they could participate in the Cool Schools Plunge. The Cool Schools Plunge is for high school students from around the city to support Interscholastic Unified Sports Programs (IUS). During the event, students partake in an educational activity followed by a plunge into icy waters. They also discussed various fundraisers which they could do to support their participation in the Cool Schools Plunge. Overall, the students who attended the 2018 Unified Youth Summit were able to leave Jefferson University with the knowledge on how to raise money for an important cause and how to lead their schools in becoming more inclusive.

 

Special Olympics PA – Philadelphia’s 2018 Unified Track & Field Championship was held on Monday, May 7, 2018, at the South Philadelphia Supersite. It was the perfect day to celebrate our athletes, partners and coaches and all the hard work they put on during the 2018 IUS Track & Field season. Special Olympics PA – Philadelphia Director, Chase Trimmer, kicked things off by welcoming everyone to the event and announcing the winning school would get a chance to compete at the PIAA Track and Field Championship in Shippensburg, PA. After some welcoming remarks, the five schools entered through the parade of athletes. Schools participating in the second annual Philadelphia Unified Track & Field Championship included George Washington High School. Hill Freedman, Martin Luther King High School, Northeast High School and host South Philadelphia High School. Special Olympics PA Board Member, Tony Gillespie joined us for the day and offered luck to all athletes and partners competing. Margaret Lasseter and Tra Griffin from South Philadelphia then lead the athletes and partners in the Special Olympics athlete oath of “Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt. Following the athlete oath, Coach Regina Johnson from Martin Luther King High School lead the coaches in the Coaches Oath of “I promise that we shall, take part in these Special Olympics games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them. In the true spirit of sportsmanship. For the glory of sport and the honor of our teams.” After Margaret and Tra came back up to officially declare the Unified Track and Field Championship open, the crowd erupted in applause and athletes and partners got ready to compete.

The 100-meter dash kicked off the Championship. As athletes raced down the track, South Philadelphia’s cheerleading squad was there to cheer them onto strong finishes. The 100-meter dash was followed by the 400-meter race and the 800-meter race which showcased the long distance runners of each school. After these track events, athletes split up to participate in one of three field events – long jump, mini javelin, or shotput. Each field event saw some great jumps and throws by both athletes and partners alike, with some creating a new personal record for themselves. 

Photos

Individual Results

School Key:

GW – George Washington High School, HF – Hill Freedman, MLK – Martin Luther King High School, NE – Northeast High School, SP – South Philadelphia High School

100 Meter Dash

School	A/P	Name	Time	Place
SP	Partner	Tracesaan Griffin	12.06	1
HF	Partner	Darius Hunter-McLean	14.28	3
NE	Partner	Fransico Correia	13.41	2
HF	Partner	Kayla Marshall	14.78	6
HF	Athlete	Tahlik Moon	12.12	1
HF	Partner	Justice Saunders	14	5
NE	Partner	Pedro Alicea	12.2	2
HF		Keith Jones	12.53	3
NE	Partner	Caio Desouza	12.17	4
SP	Partner	Vaten Pridgen	13.8	3
GW	Athlete	Ryan Caldwell	14.91	4
HF	Partner	Aniya Gentles	13.79	2
SP	Athlete	Nasir Martin	13.63	1
GW	Athlete	Joseph McGinley	14.91	4
GW	Athlete	Johnathan Aguliera	15.46	3
MLK	Athlete	Semaj Glover	13.69	2
SP	Athlete	Maragret Lassiter	15.63	4
NE	Partner	Andra Silva	12.37	1
NE	Athlete	Samirah Stevens	15.5	1
HF	Partner	Destiny Goldmas	15.79	2
MLK	Athlete	Ludiner Chery	17.29	3
GW	Athlete	Aaron Wilson	16.16	1
MLK	Athlete	Dandre Young-Conner	19.66	5
NE	Athlete	Maria Trinidad	16.28	3
GW	Athlete	Nicholas Delgado	16.2	2
NE	Athlete	Alysha Hawkins	17.54	4
GW	Athlete	Kassim Rollerson	19.13	5
GW	Athlete	Brandon Taylor	17.07	2
GW	Athlete	Jordan Scott	17.85	4
MLK	Athlete	Ojay Harris	15.79	1
GW	Athlete	Dominic Maffei	17.72	3
GW	Athlete	Anthony Le	21.28	6
GW	Athlete	Oluwasegen Sodeke	21.28	3
GW	Athlete	Zachary Zimri	20.16	2
HF	Partner	Jihara Richardson	16.78	1
NE	Athlete	Karen Luong	25.9	5
NE	Athlete	John Zhen	22.34	4
HF	Athlete	Khyree Scott	29.72	3
NE	Athlete	Chris Chandler	21.91	1
NE	Athlete	Savanah Ayala	22.12	2
NE	Athlete	Adam Loai	30.63	4
NE	Athlete	Falu Anthony	32.37	5
GW	Athlete	Mitchell Cafolla	41.43	6

 

400 Meter Run

School	A/P	Name	Time	Place
MLK	Athlete	Jasir Newsome	1:02	2
SP	Partner	Ibrahim Cisse-Karamoko	1:00	1
MLK	Partner	Thomas Bell	1:05.22	1
HF	Athlete	Russell Shelton	1:08	3
HF	Partner	Ariel Odom	1:19.00	4
SP	Athlete	Reggie Blanton	1:06.78	2
GW	Athlete	Peter Pulukchu	1:17.28	2
GW	Athlete	Ronald Pierre	1:24.63	3
GW	Athlete	Faheem Rucker	1:16.15	1
HF	Partner	Jasmine Addison	1:28.72	4
GW	Athlete	Kwesi Quainoo	1:08.34	1
MLK	Athlete	Zhaire Harris White	1:16.00	4
GW	Athlete	Juan Espinosa	1:08.38	2
MLK	Partner	Nagid Sawyer	1:13.28	3
MLK	Athlete	Maurice Griffin	1:18.81	1
HF	Partner	Christian Moreno	1:22.97	3
HF	Athlete	Laurance Warner	1:20.34	2
MLK	Athlete	India Grierson	1:31.50	4
HF	Athlete	Iyana Sipes	1:31.84	2
GW	Athlete	Leyla Kamilova	1:43.06	3
MLK	Partner	Taylor Calloway	1:29.50	1
GW	Athlete	Elizabeth Vicario	1:43.66	1
SP	Athlete	Joseph Polizzi	2:28.43	4
NE	Athlete	Uwase Mutoni	1:45.32	2
GW	Athlete	Daika Douze	2:00.00	3
MLK	Athlete	Trevor Thompson	3:10.00	6
NE	Athlete	Samuel Godoi	3:08.85	5

 

800 Meter Race

School	A/P	Name	Time	Place
SP	Partner	Arisode Intwali	2:24.86	1
NE	Athlete	Isais Aponte	3:22.42	1
MLK	Athlete	Precious Ford	3:40.60	3
SP	Athlete	Charles Galvani	3:36.76	2

 

4×100 Relay

Teams	Time	Place
GW 2	1:06.50	4
GW 1	1:03.97	3
SP 1	:58.34	1
HF 1	1:01.75	2
MLK 1 (Boys)	1:07.91	2
HF 2	1:08.34	3
NE 1	1:07.50	1

 

4×400 Relay

Team	Times	Place
GW 1	4:38.41	1
MLK 1	5:26.90	3
SP 1	4:56.41	2
NE 1	5:40.03	4

 

Long Jump

School	A/P	Name	1st Attempt	2nd Attempt	3rd Attempt	Place
GW	Athlete	Joseph McGinley	6′ 4.5″	4′ 8″	F	2
SP	Partner	Abudullah Ali	7′ 11″	7′	7′ 4″	1
GW	Athlete	Peter Pulukchu	F	10′ 9.5″	9′ 2″	2
GW	Athlete	Faheem Rucker	F	10′ 10″	11′ 1.5″	1
HF	Partner	Kayla Marshall	9′ 9.5″	10′ 2″	9′ 4″	3
GW	Athlete	Juan Espinosa	9′ 9″	11′ 7″	12′ 4″	3
MLK	Partner	Taylor Calloway	7′ 11″	8′	F	4
GW	Athlete	Kwesi Quainoo	13′ 3″	14′	14′ 9″	2
MLK	Partner	Thomas Bell	14′	15′ 3″	14′ 7.5″	1

 

Mini Javelin

School	A/P	Name	1st Attempt	2nd Attempt	3rd Attempt	Place
GW	Partner	Mitchell Cafolla	F	4′ 6″	F	5
GW	Partner	Anthony Le	6′ 6″	F	17′ 3″	2
HF	Athlete	Khyree Scott	9′ 8″	7′ 10″	5′ 8″	3
GW	Partner	Oluwasegen Sodeke	F	8′ 11″	8′ 5″	4
NE	Partner	Matisse Barrett	20′ 11″	24′ 8″	26′ 5″	1
MLK	Athlete	Zhaire Harris White	22′ 4″	20′ 4″	15′ 4″	3
GW	Partner	Jordan Scott	F	32′ 11″	21′ 4″	1
MLK	Athlete	Trevor Thompson	F	23′ 5″	23′ 7″	2
NE	Athlete	John Zhen	11′ 8″	15′ 3″	F	4
MLK	Athlete	India Grerson	23′ 9″	F	10′ 2″	2
HF	Athlete	Laurance Warner	22′ 7″	22′ 4″	F	3
HF	Partner	Sammy Donnie	26′ 7″	28′ 7″	21′ 2″	1
HF	Athlete	Tahlik Moon	54′ 3″	39′ 8″	44′ 10″	1
SP	Athlete	Alvin	34′ 7″	23′ 2″	F	2
GW	Athlete	Ronald Pierre	19′ 8″	F	F	4
GW	Athlete	Kassim Rollerson	22.7″	23′ 11″	24′ 11″	3
MLK	Athlete	Maurice Griffin	F	F	F	P
GW	Athlete	Aaron Wilson	28′ 7″	21′ 6″	23′ 6″	3
GW	Partner	Tiffany Sourovelis	19′ 9″	18′ 5″	21′ 4″	4
MLK	Athlete	Precious Ford	24′ 11″	34′ 11″	27′ 4″	1
GW	Athlete	Leyla Kamilova	32′ 8″	29′ 6″	27′ 4″	2
SP	Athlete	Antonio Burnett	22′ 4″	36′ 10″	39′ 11″	4
GW	Partner	Yesenia Lebron	F	44′ 5″	41′ 10″	3
MLK	Athlete	Jasir Newsome	25′ 9″	24′ 7″	36′ 9″	5
HF	Partner	Christian Moreno	58′ 7″	60′ 7″	63′ 5″	1
HF	Partner	Justice Saunders	F	50′ 3″	47′ 10″	2
MLK	Athlete	Semaj Glover	27′ 11″	F	F	4
HF	Partner	Destiny Goldmas	37′ 7″	46′ 10″	32′ 4″	3
SP	Athlete	Andre Thach	40′ 7″	34′ 1″	56′ 3″	1
GW	Athlete	Johnathan Aguliera	38′ 9″	53′ 11″	54′ 3″	2
HF	Athlete	Mike Ellis	58′ 7″	F	73′ 5″	1
NE	Athlete	Jordan Ganges	57′ 9″	29′ 6″	41′	3
MLK	Partner	Isaiah Collins	69′ 5″	57′ 5″	60′ 6″	2
NE	Partner	Fransico Correia	70′ 8″	74′ 9″	74′ 2″	2
HF		Keith Jones	F	57′ 6″	51′ 5″	4
NE	Partner	Andra Silva	57′	F	70′ 3″	3
MLK	Partner	Nagid Sawyer	47′ 1″	78′ 2″	66′ 3″	1

 

Shotput

School	A/P	Name	1st Attempt	2nd Attempt	3rd Attempt	Place
HF	Athlete	Mark Robbins	5′ 11″	5′ 10″	5′ 3″	4
NE	Athlete	Chris Chandler	7′ 1″	8′ 1″	7′	3
GW	Athlete	Brandon Taylor	7′ 7″	9′ 11″	11′ 11″	2
GW	Athlete	Elizabeth Vicario	12′ 1″	14′	15′ 5″	1
GW	Partner	Dominic Maffei	13′ 9″	12′ 9″	12′ 5″	5
NE	Athlete	Adam Loai	14′ 3″	F	15′ 10″	3
NE	Athlete	Samirah Stevens	15′ 11″	15′ 9″	15′ 8″	2
MLK	Athlete	Ludiner Chery	20′	18′ 11″	19′ 3″	1
HF	Partner	Jihara Richardson	14′ 7″	14′ 6″	14′ 11 ‘	4
HF	Athlete	Sean Washington	17′	17′ 1″	21′ 1″	3
MLK	Athlete	Dandre Young-Conner	16′ 5″	18′ 11″	18′ 5″	5
HF	Partner	Aniya Gentles	16′	17′ 5″	21′ 4″	2
GW	Athlete	Zachary Zimri	18′ 5″	19′ 2″	17′ 6″	4
GW	Athlete	Nicholas Delgado	23′ 4″	22′ 1″	21′ 3″	1
HF	Partner	Eiyreana Alford	19′ 9″	22′	21′ 4″	3
NE	Athlete	Isais Aponte	21′	22′	22′ 1″	4
SP	Athlete	Matthew Webb	22′ 2″	24′	20′ 3″	2
MLK	Athlete	OJ Harris	45′ 10″	43′ 9″	43′ 5″	1
HF	Athlete	Mikhale Chisolm Brown	33′ 1″	28′ 7″	33′ 11″	4
SP	Partner	Arturo Jimenez	36′ 7″	37′ 6″	36′ 8″	3
NE	Partner	Caio Desouza	37′ 5″	34′ 7″	37′ 9″	2
HF	Partner	Darius Hunter-McLean	43′ 4″	44′ 9″	45′ 8″	1

 

After a weather postponement, Unified Bocce teams from George Washington High School and Hill-Freedman World Academy made their way to Camp Hill, PA on Friday, March 23 for the 2018 Interscholastic Unified Indoor Bocce State Championship. Both teams qualified for the championship after placing first in their respective divisions in the Philadelphia City Championship earlier in the season. This year, eleven high school teams advanced from seven regions of the state.  Like Geroge Washington and Hill-Freedman, each school earned a spot in this event by winning their county or city championships. Our two Philadelphia teams joined the Rochester Rams and Central Valley Warriors who represented Beaver, the Upper Dauphin Trojans who represented Dauphin, the Haverford Fords who represented Delaware, the Grove City Eagles and West Middlesex Big Reds who represented Mercer, North Penn Knights who represented Montgomery, and the North Penn Liberty Mounties who represented Tioga counties. 

During the Opening Ceremony, Mike Handleman, joined the head coach from North Penn Liberty High School, Carissa Flook, to lead the coaches in the Special Olympics Coaches Oath. Right before the Games were declared open, John Gombocz, Special Education Advisor for the PA Dept. of Education took to a bocce court to roll out our first ceremonial ball. George Washington and Hill-Freedman faced off each other in the first game with George Washington taking the win with a score of 12-2. In the next game, George Washington faced North Penn High School and lost 3-7. Hill-Freedman went up against West Middlesex High School and lost 4-11. The last round would determine where teams would end up on the podium. George Washington faced North Penn Liberty in hopes to make it to the podium with a bronze medal. Unfortunate, Geroge Washington lost in the last frame with the final score being 5-7. On the other side of the arena, Hill Freedman played Haverford High School for 7th place and ended up losing 2-10. In the end, Hill-Freedman walked away with the eighth place ribbon and Geroge Washington walked away with the fourth place ribbon. Congratulations to both schools, the athletes, partners and coaches on all of your hard work and making it to the state championships. You all truly live out the vision of Unified.

Teams:

George Washington Eagles	Hill-Freedman High School
Alyssa Henry, Senior Kaitlyn Pemper, Senior Karen Hua, Senior Faheem Rucker, Junior Nikolas Feaster, Junior Isaiah Jackson, Junior Perla Ayala, Sophomore Ivri McDaniel, Sophomore Yvonne Schwiker, Coach Lori Solomon, Coach	Conrad Edwards, Senior Sean Washington, Senior Laurance Warner, Senior Mark Robbins, Senior Justice Saunders, Junior Justin Berry, Junior Anniya Gentles, Freshman Jibard Richardson, Freshman Mike Handelman, Coach Joseph Moore, Coach

 

Photos:

For all photos from the event from Photography by Dane, click here.