Anne Arundel School Wins National Award For Including Students With Disabilities In Sports

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Annapolis High School was recently honored for its inclusive sports culture.

ESPN named Annapolis High one of the top five Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools in the nation. This award recognizes schools pre-K through university for creating a spirit of acceptance in its sports programs, classrooms and school climates.

Special Olympics is an international organization that runs competitive sports leagues for people with disabilities. Annapolis High School has several unified sports through Special Olympics.

The Panthers run unified tennis in the fall, bowling in the winter and bocce in the spring. These teams pair athletes with disabilities to partners without disabilities.

Jim Schmutz, the president and CEO of Special Olympics Maryland, said these teams create "a Unified generation and a world where opportunity is not limited by disability."

"I am so proud of our Interscholastic Unified Sports programs across the state," Schmutz said in a press release. "Annapolis High School represents success in our efforts to build interactive, inclusive communities of dignity and respect, as their students personify every day what it means to live Unified."

Annapolis High celebrated the honor last Friday with a school-wide event hosted by Special Olympics and ESPN.

Students and staff competed in a unified basketball game during the event. The school unveiled the Special Olympics Unified Champion School banner at halftime. A video of the banner reveal is posted here.

"Our school system as a whole has placed a tremendous emphasis not just on inclusion, but on access and creating a true sense of belonging for every student," Superintendent Mark Bedell said in the release. "The work that has been done at Annapolis High School is both superb and inspiring, and it sets a high bar for others in our county and far beyond."

Annapolis High has participated in Special Olympics for over a decade. The unified teams initially struggled to recruit students without disabilities, as they didn't realize they are also welcome to join.

That all changed when the school won the county's unified tennis championship in 2012.

Annapolis High went on to launch unified classes in the 2017-18 school year. Those classes started with physical education and quickly grew into inclusive art and dance. The school in 2019 founded a chapter of Best Buddies, an international organization that promotes friendship between people with and without disabilities.

The push to become a Special Olympics Unified Champion School started with a spirit week in March 2022. That spirit week coincided with the Cool Schools Polar Bear Plunge.

"Each day of the week was a theme and had an activity that went along with it," Unified Sports Head Coach Kellie Skinner told Special Olympics. "Our favorite event at the end of the week was a Unified Exhibition that showcased Unified Sports, the Unified PE class, art from the inclusive art class, activities from Best Buddies, photos from the Polar Bear Plunge, and our Spread the Word: Inclusion banner from earlier in March."

ESPN handed out 166 Special Olympics Unified Champion School awards in 2022. Annapolis High went on to become one of the top five honorees in that class.

The other four were Canyon Ridge High School in Idaho, Rio Rancho Elementary School in New Mexico, Spring Woods High School in Texas and the University of North Dakota.

The Friday event at Annapolis High was cohosted by ESPN personality and Paralympic swimmer Victoria Arlen.

Other distinguished guests included:

• Board of Education President Joanna Tobin
• Board Vice President Robert Silkworth
• Board member Gloria Dent
• Anne Arundel County Public Schools Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mark Bedell
• Coordinator of Athletics Clayton Culp
• Athletics Specialist Brian Layman
• Athletic Liaison Marianne Shultz
• Anne Arundel County Council Chair Pete Smith
• Councilwoman Julie Hummer
• Councilwoman Shannon Leadbetter
• Annapolis City Council Alderwoman Karma O’Neill
• Maryland State Sen. Sarah Elfreth
• Maryland Department of Disabilities Secretary Carol Beatty