That photo wrapped up a celebration today at West Seattle High School – and at the heart of it is what’s directly over the athletes, school staffers, and sports mascots who gathered for the group shot: A newly unveiled banner in honor of national recognition for WSHS’s Unified Sports program:

As shown in the close-up photo, it now hangs in the WSHS gym next to a banner recognizing the program’s achievements in recent years. Special Olympics of Washington explains it in this excerpt from their announcement of today’s banner unveiling:

For its work in empowering students to be agents of change in their school and community, West Seattle High School (received) a Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools National Banner …

West Seattle is one of two schools in Washington to achieve National Banner status in 2025 and is the first school in the Seattle school district to receive this recognition. To add even more kudos, West Seattle also made the ESPN Honor Roll, which is a national list of schools recognized by ESPN and Special Olympics for their efforts in creating inclusive environments for students with and without intellectual disabilities. Only one high school is selected from each state and West Seattle was recognized for Washington.

A Unified Champion Schools National Banner is a major achievement for the entire school for meeting 10 standards of excellence. These national standards revolve around inclusion, advocacy and respect; they include implementing sustainable programs around Special Olympics Unified Sports (where students with and without intellectual disabilities train and compete as teammates), inclusive youth leadership and engagement throughout the whole school.

We were invited to cover the student-organized all-school spring pep assembly this morning during which the banner was unveiled following cheers led by former Seahawks player turned Special Olympics ambassador Ray Roberts:

As shown in the clip, WSHS’s Unified Sports coordinator Rachel Myers was honored too. We also recorded a longer version starting with students talking about the program before the assembly heard from Special Olympics of Washington president/CEO Mary Do, who reminded the school community, “You made this happen” (she speaks starting 5:20 into the clip):

The National Banner status was first announced last fall, at which time the school noted the banner itself would arrive in spring.