The University of Nebraska – Lincoln is becoming a Champion School

After a successful flag football season, the University of Nebraska – Lincoln (UNL) is taking the next step of inclusion by becoming a champion school.

UNL Junior Sophie Hill has been involved in Special Olympics and Unified Sports since high school. She said it helped her to find her purpose for life and taught her so much about the importance of inclusion in schools. When she came to UNL, she signed up for Unified Sports, and now she serves as the president of the organization on campus.

A champion school (also called a Banner school) means that UNL the ten standards of excellence set by the Special Olympics. That would mean the campus has “an inclusive school climate and exudes a sense of collaboration, engagement and respect for all members of the student body and staff” (specialolympics.org).

The primary programmer of the Unified Sports at UNL, Bekka Hitz, said “It’s important for UNL to becomes a banner school because it shows the university’s dedication to inclusion and unity, and I think that would greatly impact our community.”

Hill and Hitz met in high school through the Unified program. Hill said, “When we met, we made a goal to make Millard West [their high school] a banner school, and now we’re still collaborating to meet the same goal for UNL.”

Millard West did become a champion school in 2019, the same year that Hill became a Special Olympics US Youth Ambassador with fellow athlete, Joey Drawl. During their time as ambassadors, they’ve conducted many interviews and visited other Universities to make the Unified program at UNL the best it can be.

Unified athletic partner, Abby Waldo was a part of the winning flag football team this year and said, “Seeing how passionate Sophie is about making UNL a banner school makes all the athletes so much more invested in the organization.”

Partner, Haley Steiner also said, “I think UNL should be a banner school. I don’t know why it wouldn’t. It would have a positive effect that creates unity and inclusion on campus.”

Hill and Hitz hope to be announced as a banner school by Spring 2023, once all the paperwork is approved. If you are looking to get involved with the campus organization, you can check out their organizations page on NvolveU.