Winning gold medals at the 2014 national tournament, the Rowan Unified Soccer Team representing Team New Jersey included, from left, Cody Bruner, Khary Bullock Jr., Brooke Creighton, Solomon Feraidoon, Billy Iocona, Julie Kelly ’15, Michelle Lima ’15, Jonathan Pepper, Charles Schafer and Lauren Sweeney.
In 2011, Special Olympics New Jersey (SONJ) asks Rowan to be the first college club in the nation to adopt the new Unified Sports program. Rowan students partner with SONJ athletes and compete together in soccer and basketball leagues.
The Rowan Unified Sports club involves hundreds of students in its first two years. Students speak glowingly of the impact the program has on them and what they have learned about teamwork, mentoring, friendship and inclusion. The Rowan community rallies around the players, serving as volunteers, fans, officials, coaches and friends.
In 2018, ESPN named Rowan a Special Olympics Unified Champion School, a distinction reserved for the most elite and successful Unified Sports programs in the nation.
