![Hosting the SCLA Casptone Mentor Dinner outside allowed for more attendees on September 27, 2021 at Silver Creek. This event would’ve usually been held inside. According to Lauren Kohn, a SCLA 12 teacher, “If we have a higher number of people, as long as we can host the event outside, then that seems to be keeping every[one] safe”.](https://schsnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/sxMAIGbSYGodZkqmrvTi5YWcJ1ssWA08ApkeMLpp-900x675.jpeg)
On Monday, May 12, the St. Vrain Valley School District and its special education students came together for the Unified Day of Champions. Eight high schools within the district attended, bringing over 150 athletes together for one of the best days of the year.
The Unified Day of Champions is an annual event during the school year at Longmont High School’s Everly-Montgomery Field. During the event, all eight high schools go to different stations with their respective schools. Some of these stations are basketball, kickball, bowling, shuffleboard, and the dunk tank, where the students get to dunk their own principal. Most of these students are on a Unified team, already giving them a community, but Day of Champions expands that for them as a celebration of their year.
The Day of Champions started as a Silver Creek High School capstone project with the very first class of Silver Creek Leadership Academy (SCLA). In 2013, Hannah Foster, who was in SCLA and a senior at the time, created the Day of Champions for Silver Creek High School students. Her vision was for special education students to have a field day so they could feel a part of the community.
In order to participate in these events, the opportunities need to be presented to the students.
“It’s important for everybody to have equal opportunities in all aspects of life, and if somebody isn’t [in the] neurotypical or able-bodied category, it shouldn’t mean that they should be excluded,” Foster said.
Foster, during her time at Silver Creek, realized that there was not an abundance of opportunities for students with disabilities. She discovered this when babysitting for a good family friend who lives in Nebraska. Their son has Down Syndrome. At his school, he was able to compete in sports and all events that a neurotypical person can do. Foster realized that none of those opportunities were present in the St Vrain Valley School District.
“When we are inclusive, it matters,” Carrie Adams, the program coordinator for SCLA, said. “It changes the tone of the school, and when kids with special needs are involved in other classes, they can do things that kids without disabilities can do. It’s powerful and important.”
Day of Champions was held at Silver Creek High School for the first seven years of the event on a Saturday, where most of the students were from Silver Creek. There were about three to four events, like indoor kickball. Students would compete for medals in these events among their peers. It allowed these students to have a fun day playing games that they normally weren’t able to.
“I never see anything a student can’t do; I only see what the students can do,” Natalie Slovikoski, a parent of a Unified athlete, said.
The COVID-19 Pandemic put the event on hold as it was traditionally held inside of the school. Then the St. Vrain Valley School District picked up the event, and it went through massive changes. The district wanted all of its Unified Athletes to still be able to participate in their sport, so the event moved outside, added five more events, and invited more high schools, bringing over 100 special education students to the event.
Chase McBride is the President of Day of Champions and an assistant superintendent for St Vrain Valley Schools. He took over the district’s athletics department in 2019 and, in 2020, helped transition Day of Champions to become district-wide.
“It’s great for all of our Unified Athletes to see kids from different schools; they get to have some fun dunking their principal and just a bit of collegiality of seeing each other from different schools,” McBride said.
Since the pandemic, the event has been held at Longmont High School’s Everly-Montgomery Field. Students from all over the district at this event are able to participate in events they can’t do in a normal school day.
Benjamin Dooley, a Silver Creek High School junior and Unified athlete, has attended Day of Champions for the past three years, and he is also on the Unified Bowling team.
“I like seeing all the different people from different schools,” Dooley said.
The event continues to adapt each year. In 2026, a new event was added, dart throwing, where students toss a ball at a big dart board. However, the favorite event continues to make an appearance: students get to throw a softball at a dunk tank where either their Unified coach, principal, or school resource officer is ready to get drenched in freezing cold water.
“Seeing my principal getting dunked is one of the best parts of the event,” Otto Andersen, a Unified athlete at Silver Creek, said.
At the end of the day, students and staff enjoyed pizza together with their school. Overall, this event allows students from different schools to get together once a year and just have some fun.
“I would describe it as pure joy,” Courtney Stanesa, the athletic secretary at Erie High School, said.
