South Ripley High School Receives National Honor From Special Olympics

Celebrations were in full effect for a great accomplishment at SRHS.

Photo by Rob Moorhead. 1 of the 14 banners in Indiana.

(South Ripley, Ind.) - A local high school was named a National Unified Champion School on Wednesday, October 18th.

South Ripley High School is 1 of only 14 schools in the state of Indiana to receive a national banner!

SRHS was given this honor after first becoming apart of Champions Together in 2015. 

The organization pairs with the Special Olympics to promote "servant leadership among student athletes while changing their lives as well as the lives of those with intellectual disabilities."

Becoming a Champion Together School is targeted towards four standards. The standards include Inclusive Student Leadership, Whole School Engagement, Unified Sports, and Fundraising. 

Superintendent Rob Moorhead raves about the schools accomplishment by telling Eagle Country, "I could not be more proud of Mrs. Brenda Strimple and the Champions Together students at South Ripley High School.  To be one of only 14 schools in the entire state to receive this national recognition is truly remarkable.  We are extremely grateful to the Indiana High School Athletic Association and Special Olympics Indiana for creating such a powerful program.  Thanks to the hard work and leadership of Brenda Strimple, South Ripley High School is a state leader in the Champions Together movement.  We also appreciate local ROD Special Olympics coordinator Greg Townsend for his efforts to help us with this partnership.  Our students have always embraced our special education students at South Ripley, but to see them have the chance to compete together in unified athletic events is outstanding.  And to win a State Championship in Unified Bowling is another tremendous achievement of which we are very proud.  This is truly a win-win partnership that benefits our varsity athletes and Special Olympic athletes in many ways."  

The school held a pep-rally of sorts to celebrate their great accomplishments, including their State Championship winning unified bowling team. 

For more information on Champions Together and how to get involved, you can check out their website at https://soindiana.org/champions-together/.  

We also got to recognize our State Champion Unified Bowling Team today! Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Kieffer and @brendastrimple for coaching our state champions! #RaiderPride pic.twitter.com/eNqV8dijne

— Rob Moorhead (@RobMoorhead01) October 16, 2019