GLOCESTER – It’s an honor in recognition of a commitment to inclusion reserved for just one school in each state in the northeast region.
Ponaganset High School has been named an ESPN Honor Roll School in addition to their ongoing designation as a Unified Champion School.
Staff and students celebrated the honor at a banner ceremony last week with participation of their younger peers from West Glocester and Fogarty Elementary Schools.
While all schools in Rhode Island now offer at least one unified sport – where athletes of all abilities compete as a team – Ponaganset has decisively led the way in commitment to the Special Olympics program in the state. PHS first became a National Unified Champion School in 2017 – the first school to achieve the recognition in Rhode Island – for providing an inclusive space for individuals with and without intellectual disabilities.
To earn the recognition of a national banner school, faculty must demonstrate inclusion through 10 standards of excellence. Since the first recognition in 2017, Ponaganset has twice been certified for additional four year terms, most recently in 2024.
But the school’s commitment and contributions to the program don’t end there. In 2018, the high school created the Inclusion Pledge in honor the 50th anniversary of Special Olympics. Since then, the pledge created in the Glocester school has been taken by supporters around the world.
It was rehearsed by PHS students once again this week as the school unveiled its latest unified banner. Ponaganset students and staff take part in the Special Olympics Polar Plunge each year and the school offers two unified sports. And every student and faculty member still takes the pledge.
The ESPN honor, which schools across the country apply for, made the banner unveiling ceremony even more of a celebration for the student body. The network has served as the global presenting sponsor and official broadcast partner of the Special Olympics for more than three decades, highlighting coverage of the USA Games and World Games. ESPN also supports Special Olympics Unified Sport and names a limited number of schools from each region to their honor roll.
A representative from ESPN noted that their banner only goes to a school “which embodies the mission of Special Olympics and lives the culture of inclusion.”
“Only those who crush all ten standards of excellence including unifed sports, youth leadership, whole school engagement and more get to hang this banner,” said Domenic of H.D. Woodson High School in Washington, DC in announcing the recipients last year. “We want you to know that this recognition is a testament to you, the students and administration, alongside Special Olympics, for all of your hard work.”
The Ponaganset Athletic Department recognized the achievement in a post on social media.
“What a wonderful celebration today being recognized as not only a Unified Champion School but also being selected as an ESPN Honor Roll School,” it noted. “Thank you to all the faculty, staff, administration and especially the students. This was accomplished because of you.”
“We Choose to Include,” the department noted.
The banner ceremony was followed by a unified basketball game against Johnston High School.
Ponaganset High School was one of just nine schools in the Northeast Region named to the ESPN honor.
The others were as follows:
Connecticut: Oxford High School
Maine: Morse High School
Massachusetts: Mario Umana Academy
New Hampshire: Winnacunnet High School
New Jersey: Montgomery High School
New York: New York Shaker High School
Pennsylvania: Baldwin High School
Vermont: Albert D. Lawton Intermediate School
