SOMO News
Release: Marquette High School named National Banner Unified Champion School
JEFFERSON CITY, MO – Special Olympics Missouri (SOMO) is excited to announce Marquette High School has been named an official National Banner Unified Champion School for its commitment to inclusion.
To become a National Banner Unified Champion School, they must meet 10 standards of excellence focusing on Unified Sports, inclusive youth leadership, and whole-school engagement.
“To be recognized as a National Banner Unified Champion School is the highest of honors! It is an amazing accomplishment and one that deserves to be celebrated by all! As great as it is for a school to be recognized, the commitment to grow the unified movement by supporting fellow Unified Champion Schools is equally as important.” Ben Johnson, SOMO
“I am so proud of our students and our community. I have been teaching at MHS since 2000 and it has not always been like this. For so long our students with intellectual disabilities were stuck in one hallway of the school and most students didn’t know their names. There was very little interaction between our students with and without intellectual disabilities. In the last 10 years we have gradually changed that. From Mike Tevlin (SSD) and Dave Olivo (PE/baseball coach) working with our students with intellectual disabilities as managers for the freshman baseball team to Gabby Bergin and Lilly Constantinides starting the Best Buddies program at MHS to Anna Voigt from Eureka High School bringing the idea of a unified PE program to Rockwood it got the ball rolling and we have snowballed ever since and I hope we continue to grow.” Felicia Durst, Marquette HS
The addition of Marquette High School brings the total number of National Banner Unified Champion Schools in Missouri to six. Poplar Bluff High School, Odessa High School, and Webb City Junior High School were named a National Banner Unified Champion School in 2023, Ste. Genevieve High School was named a National Banner Unified Champion School in 2022, and Festus High School was named Missouri’s first National Banner Unified Champion School back in 2020.
The Inclusion Revolution continues to grow across the country. In 2021, just 68 schools from around the country were recognized as National Banner Unified Champion Schools by Special Olympics North America (SONA). In 2022, that number jumped up to 166. This year, there are over 500 National Banner Unified Champion Schools. Click here for more information on how to become a National Banner Unified Champion School!