Page 1
School Highlights
September 2019
Oce of Special Education Programs
U.S. Department of Education
Arthur L. Johnson High School ...........................2
Burlington City High School ...............................2
Burnet Middle School ......................................... 3
Camden Street School .......................................10
Clayton High School .........................................12
Crossroads South Middle School ......................... 5
Delsea High School ...........................................11
Delsea Regional Middle School ........................11
East Hanover Middle School ...............................7
ECLC/Chatham High School ................................9
Haledon Public School ........................................ 8
Hamilton High School West .............................. 12
Lyndhurst School District ............................. 6, 11
Metuchen High School .......................................4
Newton High School ...........................................7
North Hunterdon High School ............................2
Overbrook High School ....................................... 5
Ridge High School ..............................................8
Rutherford High School ...................................... 7
Sayreville War Memorial High School .................3
Somerville High School ....................................12
SONJ UCS School Partners Website ....................1
Union City High School ....................................... 8
Union High School .............................................. 5
West Morris Mendham High School ...................9
In This Issue
SONJ UCS School Partners Website
Please bookmark this website: https://www.sonj.org/school-partners/
because, this website is the dedicated resource for the SONJ Unied
Champion School Partners. On the website, scroll down for links to:
• The Revolution is Inclusion Campaign
• Guidelines & Resources (UCS Handbook, Change The Game Confer-
ence Presentation, School Contacts by County, Special Olympics
Unied PE Guide, Learn. Practice. Play. UNIFIED Guide, UCS Playbook
Resources and Fitness Guide for Schools, with more to come)
• Administrative & Registration Forms (Expense Request form and
Youth Summit registrations)
• School Highlights Newsletters (past & present)
Use the “School Partners” menu (on the right side of the page) to access
Stipend, T-shirt and Equipment request forms. Also nd Monthly Report
links, Tournament Registration and Young Athletes Resources.
Be sure to check out the UCS Handbook. Designed to assist UCS teams
with programming and grant management, it is divided into ve parts
and packed with useful information:
• Part I: Grant Management
• Part II: The Basics: Introduction and
Background
• Part III: Inclusive Youth Leadership
• Part IV: Unied Sports
• Part V: Whole School Engagement
A link to the Handbook is on the website, or
access it by clicking the icon on the right.
Unied Champion Schools
2019-20 Handbook
Page 2
School Highlights
September 2019
Oce of Special Education Programs
U.S. Department of Education
Burlington City High
School
The initial goal at the Burlington
City High School Club meet-
ing was recruitment for their
Unied Club. They discussed
requirements of the Club, such
as grades, behavior and atten-
dance. They also designed their
Club t-shirt and developed ideas
for the year.
At soccer practice, they worked
on conditioning, but their
concentration was on playing
together, as some teammates
were a little nervous at not hav-
ing played soccer before. Over-
all it was a good turn out and
most importantly they had fun.
Arthur L. Johnson High School
Unied sports at Arthur L. Johnson High School are already
well underway. Following is their September schedule.
9/9/19: First practice: practiced warming up, meeting each
other, passing, stopping the ball, and throwing it in.
9/11/19: Unied gym: practiced warming up and practiced all
skills from rst practice.
9/17/19: Practice #2: practiced warming up, stretching, pass-
ing and dribbling.
9/19/19: Unied Gym: practiced warming up and practiced all
skills in past practices and learning the positions.
9/24/19: Practice #3: Warming up, stretching, keep away
game and passing.
9/26/19: Unied Gym: practiced warming up and practiced all
skills in past practices and learning the positions and shooting
on goal.
North Hunterdon High School
Page 3
School Highlights
September 2019
Oce of Special Education Programs
U.S. Department of Education
Sayreville War Memorial High School
Welcome back to another
Bomber school year! Sayreville
War Memorial High School is
very excited for this upcom-
ing school year! In September,
they started to get a lot of
things underway. The Unied
Club has met once already and
they are having a blast hang-
ing out after school socializing
with one another. Unied P.E.
has one year under its belt
and is a well-oiled machine. In
two weeks, their Unied soc-
cer teams will start to meet
for practices. September was
great in Sayreville. Unied
club has planned to meet one
to two times a month. Unied
P.E. is well underway.
A Sayreville Unied P.E. teacher
stated “Unied P.E. started o
the school year with success!
They have a lot of new faces
and have made new friend-
ships. Those who participate
in this program have been
introduced to various activities
that focus on communication
through project adventure and
sport skills. As October ap-
proaches, students will par-
ticipate in soccer activities for
their upcoming Unied Soccer
game in November.”
Burnet Middle School
Burnet Middle School has
a new principal this school
year, so the Unied program
had a slow start due to tran-
sitioning issues. Regardless,
they did have their rst after
school club meeting. They
discussed Unied Sport
practices, which will start on
10/28/19, Buddy Lunches, af-
ter school monthly meetings
and leadership conferences.
Students are also planning a
party for October.
Students from last year’s club
have already started coming
on Wednesdays for Buddy
Lunch. One lunch now is at the
same time as physical educa-
tion, so on Wednesdays, the
students have a modied Uni-
ed Physical Education class.
The New York Giants visited
Burnet with their Play 360
program. Club members
coordinated a Unified meet
and greet to take pictures,
play games and participate
in the program.
Page 4
School Highlights
September 2019
Oce of Special Education Programs
U.S. Department of Education
Metuchen High School
Metuchen PAWS Unied is going strong in its second
year. Here are some exciting things they are working on:
The students in Unied Physical Education are get-
ting to know each other through interactive les-
sons and through sport activities. All the students
assessed each other on locomotor skills and bal-
ance. The students are in a soccer unit - research-
ing and creating drills, learning about the game of
soccer and honing their skills.
Metuchen PAWS Unied Club met two times dur-
ing September. During the rst week, they worked
together to complete a really cool sneaker puzzle
and during the second week, they played corn hole
and bocce.
Metuchen is also fundraising by selling apparel
and promoting their program with a “Cool School
Challenge” team.
Page 5
School Highlights
September 2019
Oce of Special Education Programs
U.S. Department of Education
Crossroads South Middle School
At the beginning of the month,
Crossroads South Middle School
met as a Unied team and
discussed upcoming events,
including a recruitment event.
The school liaison held an
informational meeting for over
90 general education students.
Club expectations, club oer-
ings, and the application pro-
cess to become a member were
explained. A Google form appli-
cation was provided to the stu-
dents. The results came in and
there were over 34 applications!
All applicants were contacted
and emailed of their acceptance
into the Unied peer buddy
program at Crossroads South.
They were so excited and will
attend a training meeting on
October 10th at 2:30 pm. They
all look forward to participat-
ing in the club activities. The
picture below shows the many
students who attended the
recruitment meeting!
Union High School
Union High School had
their initial sign up
meeting for Play Unied.
They discussed ideas
for events and activities
and handed out physi-
cal forms and family ID
forms. They’ve decided
to have lunch buddy
gatherings every other
week and are in the pro-
cess of setting them up
to happen.
Overbrook High School
During the rst month of school, Overbrook High School held its rst
Unied meeting and attended their rst pep rally.
At the meeting, the students received information and paperwork, and
got to meet everyone. The students were informed that they would
vote on leadership roles at their October meeting, and that they need-
ed to get a petition signed, as well as have a teacher support them in
order to participate. Two of their special needs students returned the
paperwork and are very excited about having leadership roles.
Overbrook High School introduced the Unied sports team and club
in front of the whole school at the pep rally. The students enjoyed the
introduction very much! Overbrook is o to a great start, since it is ap-
parent that everyone wants to be a part of the club and supports the
Unied cause!
Page 6
School Highlights
September 2019
Oce of Special Education Programs
U.S. Department of Education
Lyndhurst School District
September was a busy month at Lyndhurst. It was lled with advertis-
ing and promoting Unied activities district-wide. Lyndhurst distrib-
uted and collected permission slips in all ve buildings that will be
having Unied Club. The advisors did an excellent job recruiting an
amazing group of students. Each advisor was given a calendar of all
Unied events for the school year that are already scheduled. Sched-
uling eld and gym space is sometimes dicult. Therefore, creating
a schedule and getting these dates on the district calendar is ex-
tremely helpful in making these events happen for the entire district.
Additionally, Lyndhurst had their rst district-wide t-shirt fundraiser,
which was a huge success.
This is the rst year Lyndhurst has a Unied club at the High School,
and on September 18th, an interest meeting was held to recruit
students to come to the club meeting. As a result, a great group of
students came out for the rst Unied club meeting. Fortunately,
most of their eighth graders, who were involved last year, attended
the meeting as freshmen. During this meeting, students participated
in team building activities and ice breakers. Students enjoyed work-
ing together with new friends. It was great to see so many familiar
faces and meet new participants.
Roosevelt, Lincoln, Jeerson, and the High School each have their
own leadership committee that share the common goal of planning
the Unied Club open rec events that occur once a month on Fridays
after school. This group of students advertised activities for a suc-
cessful event. They created incredible advertisements, yers, and
magnets with all the open rec dates on them. They also designed
shirts for the leaders to wear during the event, so other students
know that they are the ones running each activity. Additionally, stu-
dents decided exactly which sports activities they would like to be in
charge of at the event. The students enjoy being leaders and having
their ideas heard.
Page 7
School Highlights
September 2019
Oce of Special Education Programs
U.S. Department of Education
Rutherford High School
Rutherford High School advisors held an open meeting for all
students interested in joining the Unied club. Since this is their
second year, they decided to allow any student who is interested
to join their club. They shared their experiences from last year
and explained their goals for this year. The students also lled out
a brief questionnaire and were asked why they want to join the
Unied club and what they expect to get from the experience.
The students shared stories of having siblings with special needs,
or knowing how it feels not to be included. The students were
excited to join this club to help reduce stigmas regarding abilities
and to build friendships.
The club met to decide on their rst school activity. The students
decided to establish themselves as a club by holding a Halloween-
themed competition with the other clubs in the school. They dis-
cussed how they believe this will be an opportunity for team build-
ing, creativity, and fostering a mentality for healthy competition.
The participating clubs will create jack-o-lantern/pumpkin-themed
Halloween displays to display in the school cafeteria. The school
will vote to select the winning display. The students have taken
initiative and have already begun working on securing donations
for pumpkins and plans for creating the display. It has generated a
lot of interest so far!
Newton High School
Newton High School held a special
lunch meeting on September 19, to
say good-bye to one of their most
favorite and faithful Play Unified
partners, who is moving to Califor-
nia and was a great leader. They will
miss their friend greatly, but they
plan to definitely keep in touch.
East Hanover Middle
School
At East Hanover Middle
School, they participated
in a great ice breaker
activity that promoted
using language skills. They
tossed a ball around in a
circle and named their fa-
vorite foods, animals, and
colors with a letter that
started with their first and
then last names.
Other activities to get to
know each other included
walking around the track
while singing songs chosen
by the students, playing
kickball (which was a lot of
fun), coloring and playing
board games.
Page 8
School Highlights
September 2019
Oce of Special Education Programs
U.S. Department of Education
Union City High School
The Union City High School (UCHS) club started o the school year by continuing their soccer program
from the summer. They have about 20 athletes and partners that come out to play each Sunday. Players
from the boys and girls varsity teams from UCHS
have been coming to help as partners.
Their Unied soccer team was featured in the Fall
Pep Rally. Their teams are featured in every pep and
really get the crowd going.
For the fourth year in a row UCHS had a table set
up at the school’s club fair where they were able to
reach a lot of students. Many of the new students
expressed interest in joining their club.
Haledon Public School
At Haledon Public School, the PE
sta and Pre-School and Kinder-
garten teachers began incorporat-
ing Young Athletes into the PE
PreK and K Programs. These PE
classes are made up of an inclusion
Kindergarten Gen Ed class, Gen Ed
Kindergarten incorporated with
self-contained special education
students, and PreK classes that are
inclusion and also integrated with
special education students.
During the second week of Sep-
tember, their PE sta ran a Young
Athletes skills and drills soccer
training for 20 special needs stu-
dents and 25 general education
students. The PE sta gave basic
soccer skills training with Unied
peers grade 3-5 students. After six
weeks of this program, there will
be an in-house soccer tournament
with their students after school.
A grade 3-5 club was established.
Currently 12 special education
students have signed up and 20
general education students have
registered. Haledon is also work-
ing fully establish the middle
school grade 6-8 club.
Ridge High
School
During September,
Ridge High School
set up for the soc-
cer season. Students
received physicals to
participate, and they
had practices and
two games, thus far.
The club met weekly
and had an outing to
a restaurant. They
are now planning for
the Unied Cup Soc-
cer Tournament.
Page 9
School Highlights
September 2019
Oce of Special Education Programs
U.S. Department of Education
West Morris Mendham High School
This year, Mendham hit the ground running
with a number of soccer games. Most exciting
among these was a night game against rival and
sister school West Morris Central. The students
were excited for another season, but were par-
ticularly excited for another opportunity to play
against Central.
When the day of the match arrived, the Varsity
Boys Soccer Team worked to assemble the stu-
dent fan section, the Mendham Mosh Pit, to
support the team. The cheerleaders were present
alongside parents, friends, and faculty alike. The
day was special, and made even more special, by
the level of respect that each team gave to one
another on the eld. Capping o the amazing
event was the support that the principals from
both sides of town and the superintendent gave
to the students who gave it their all.
The match ended in a 1-1 draw. The biggest
outcome; however, was the rivalry that was taken
to the next level by the players and fans. The
event was an amazing showcase for the power
of Unied and has created an amazing discus-
sion among athletes, partners, and fans at both
schools. West Morris Mendham is so excited
about where the future of these great programs
will go from here!
ECLC/Chatham High School
ECLC/Chatham High School
spent September organizing
and preparing for the year!
They held an interest meet-
ing and had an amazing turn-
out. All interested members
were asked to ll out a form
to explain why they were
interested. They received 207
membership forms!
They also participated in the
school-wide activity fair and in
Back to School Night to spread
awareness about their club to
the school and community.
This year, they have a great
leadership committee and
held three meetings to work
on their organizational struc-
ture to make sure all the
activities they want to ac-
complish a reality. The lead-
ers will take on mentor roles.
A pair of leaders will have
15 members in the club that
they will mentor, support,
and track their participation.
ECLC/Chatham had their rst
soccer practice on September
28th. It was well attended
and there was so much
excitement about Unied
Sports. Next month they will
begin “Teens Connecting with
Teens” social nights and their
Learn Unied event.
Page 10
School Highlights
September 2019
Oce of Special Education Programs
U.S. Department of Education
Camden Street School
The Camden Street School Unied group traveled with
their Special Olympic buddies to MetLife Stadium to spend
a day with NY Giants football players. The athletes and
students enjoyed a jam-packed day of skills and relays run
by the Giants players. The participants experienced a true
feeling of success and triumph as they completed the drills
and earned the praise of the players. Their smiles couldn’t
have sparkled more! They enjoyed a great lunch and had
pictures taken with all of the players.
Page 11
School Highlights
September 2019
Oce of Special Education Programs
U.S. Department of Education
Lyndhurst School
District
GUESS WHAT!!!!!! Lyndhurst
School District was able to get
a bus for Unied Club so all of
their six, seventh, and eighth
graders from all three schools
can meet at Jeerson School for
club. This is the school with the
huge gym and big eld space.
It’s awesome! They won the bus
battle!!!! Took four years but
they nally won!
Delsea High School
September was a slow month for Unied at
Delsea High School. They had sign ups for Uni-
ed Club which included 53 regular education
students. Unied Physical Education is some-
thing new they added to their curriculum this
year. They have a new PE teacher and a new
course to introduce to everyone, so it took
some time to get used to, but everyone is en-
joying the structure and interaction between
students with and without disabilities. Delsea
High School will be adding a Unied Home-
room in October.
Delsea Regional Middle School
Delsea Regional Middle School got used to
their school routines during September. So
far, they’ve created an inclusive Character Edu
group for their monthly Crusader Character
lessons so that students with and without
disabilities can participate together. They also
had two community meetings with regular
education students from the SOAR program,
which created opportunities for students to
play interactive games. Delsea Regional Middle
School is having their rst information session
about Unied in October.
Page 12
School Highlights
September 2019
Oce of Special Education Programs
U.S. Department of Education
Hamilton High School West
Hamilton West Unied Float
Somerville High School
September was a busy month of plan-
ning and re-introducing their com-
mitment to inclusion at Somerville
High School. On September 13th,
they held their rst Unied Club
(Peer2Peer) meeting. They welcomed
many new members and discussed
ideas for fundraising, Unied Bowl-
ing, club activities, recruitment, etc.
This year, Somerville’s focus expands
from a program/club that assists
the students in the Life Skills class
to more of an inclusion “movement”
that extends beyond the classroom.
In each monthly meeting they will dis-
cuss reaching out to ALL students - in
the lunchroom, in the hallway, etc. In
addition they will be participating in a
variety of community service events.
Somerville’s Choose to Include
Instagram puzzle piece campaign
also continues!
Clayton High School
The Clayton Unied PE classes are up
and running. They currently have a HS
class that has 21 students and a
MS class that has 21 students. They
have ve athletes with three in the HS
and two in the MS. The other students
in the class have volunteered to be a
part of the Unied movement. They are
planning a Unied Night. The classes
are getting to know each other and are
enjoying the no judgement zone that
the Unied PE classes oers. Clayton is
looking forward to creating an environ-
ment of inclusion, not only in class but
also throughout the school.
