On December 11, Osbourn’s Unified Eagles were presented with a national award and banner during the winter pep rally.

Osbourn High School’s Unified Eagles Club’s hard work has earned Osbourn the Special Olympics National Unified Champion School award, joining dedicated schools all over the states recognized for inclusion, respect and opportunities for every student.

The National Unified Champion School award is awarded to schools that meet national standards for excellence in Unified Sports, inclusive youth, leadership, and school engagement. To be qualified for the Unified Champion School award, the school must have a kickball team, a basketball team, a cheer team, and a year-long unified PE. 

Osbourn’s Unified Eagles Club meets these requirements, as the club includes both students with and without disabilities. The participants build friendships and improve Osbourn’s school community. The Unified Eagles Club plans and hosts a multitude of social events, activities, projects, and awareness campaigns.  Year-round, Osbourn offers students Unified Physical Education, Unified Kickball, Unified Basketball, and Unified Cheer. 

The award and banner were presented by Tyler Martin, from Virginia Special Olympics. “Osbourn High School, today isn’t just about the award, it’s about including and making everyone feel like they belong,” Martin stated. “This banner represents the union and inclusion, where everyone feels welcomed. Everyone feels like they belong.”

The Unified Eagles program is led by PE teacher and varsity basketball coach, Coach Quynh Nguyen, who also worked with this program at Liberty High School in Fauquier County. “Both schools are banner schools. Banner schools are schools with whole-school engagement, leadership clubs, and unified sports. I definitely modeled our Osbourn program after the one I experienced at Liberty,” Nguyen explained.

The Unified Eagles program has been very popular at Osbourn so far. “I joined the program my freshman year. I was nervous at first, but as I got to know everyone, it started to feel like a big family. The participants are hype, friendly, and funny,” said senior Kayla Jimenez.

“I wish I had joined sooner. I like getting to know everyone and having fun with them on field trips,” said senior Edwin Barrera.

After the award ceremony, our Unified Eagles challenged Liberty High School’s unified team (also Eagles) to a game of basketball. During the first pep rally, the Liberty Eagles were victorious wth a score of 22-30. During the second pep rally, Osbourn was victorious, with a score of 54-47.

The Unified Eagles club is led by a team of eight officers composed equally of students with intellectual disabilities and students without. The club has a presidential pair who take the lead in organizing school-wide events, engagement, and competitions against other schools. To assist, the club has a vice presidential pair who are responsible for team-building activities during meetings and who oversee all fundraising campaigns. Unlike previous years, the Unified Eagles club has also introduced the office of historians, which are also a pair, whose jobs are to document club activities throughout the year and share the club’s story online! 

Osbourn’s Unified Eagles Club also has many initiatives coming up:

• • BeYOUnified Campaign – January 16th
  • Down Syndrome Awareness Day – March 21st 
  • Autism Awareness Month Activities – April
  • Special Olympics Feet Meet – April 24th