Daybreak Elementary School has long believed every student belongs. This winter, that belief was officially recognized when the school received a national Unified Champion School banner from Special Olympics, marking Daybreak as a school where inclusion is lived every day.

The banner was unveiled during an all-school assembly in late November. Students packed the gym and cheers echoed through the room, celebrating its students with differing abilities.

“Daybreak already was doing a bunch of inclusive things prior to becoming a champion school,” said special education teacher Claudia Kamp, who helped lead the effort. “We have an inclusive student council which includes those with differing abilities.”

That 18-member sixth-grade student council prepared the presentation and explained what it means to be a Unified Champion School.

The program, run through Special Olympics, recognizes schools that meet three key components: whole school engagement, inclusive youth leadership and adaptive sports.

Daybreak, as many schools in Jordan School District, already takes part in unified sports day, an opportunity for students to participate and compete with others in running, jumping and throwing events every spring. Leading up to that day, the students and their peers take part in adaptive PE lessons.

To complete the Unified Champion Schools process, Daybreak added events, including a full inclusion week in December. Each day focused on awareness and kindness, with themes highlighting visible and invisible disabilities. One day, students wore blue to represent autism and another, yellow to support those with Down syndrome. They also dressed as superheroes to celebrate inclusion and their Daybreak shirts to show unification. 

Student council promoted the week with posters and with video announcements while parents played an active role in planning to ensure activities were accessible and educating the studentbody about differing abilities.

The school also supported World Autism Awareness Day with a bubble party and World Down Syndrome Day with a ‘Rock your Socks’ dance party at recess. Even this fall, at the opening school assembly, Special Olympics World Games Olympian Natalie Green spoke to students.

At the assembly, the introduction of the students with disabilities was met with fanfare as they ran to the stage under a tunnel of arms, being welcomed by Kamp and Special Olympics Utah Unified Champion School’s college-growth coordinator Boston Iacobazzi, who compared some of the inclusive activities that were happening at Daybreak Elementary to those in area high schools.

The banner then was unveiled on the stage to roaring applause and photos to celebrate the moment. Now, it hangs prominently near the school’s entrance.

For Kamp, the recognition goes beyond the banner.

“The coolest thing for me is the sense of belonging Daybreak has,” she said. “We really promote inclusion and a sense of belonging. Students here see a student with disabilities as one of them, not as someone who’s different.”

Daybreak serves about 500 students, including 50 students with differing abilities. Kamp says there are genuine friendships created between students and all students ran together in their fun run earlier this school year.

“One of the students said, ‘Joey is my friend and I love running with him,’” she said. 

Students buddy up with their peers in regular school rotations such as STEM, library and drama and even eat lunch and have recess together.

“We were a banner school before we became a banner school,” Kamp said. “Our principal, Leslie Ewell, encouraged students to support one another in our many inclusive activities. Once we got the banner, a lot of students and our community realized our commitment to inclusion.”