Students with and without disabilities at Wilsonville High School now share a classroom during the regular school day through a new elective called Unified Sports/Leadership.

Health teacher and Unified coach Jared Alvarez launched the one-semester course for the 2026-27 school year, according to the Wilsonville Broadcast Network. The class is endorsed as a PE credit and is open to any student at the 1,258-student school.

The elective expands a Unified program that has operated after school at Wilsonville High since 2013. Until this year, students participated only through seasonal soccer, basketball and kickball teams that meet outside class hours. The new course brings inclusive sports, field trips and leadership activities into a graded period on students' daily schedules.

Senior Olivia Meoak said she signed up while weighing a college path in special education. "I was really looking into special education for college and I felt like this class would be a good way to dip my foot into that pool and see if it is something I want to pursue," Meoak said.

The class has already left a mark. Students jointly painted a Unified banner that now hangs in a Wilsonville High hallway.

Chase Parsons, a Unified athlete enrolled in the course, put it simply: "My favorite thing to do in this class is helping my friends play sports."

Alvarez told the Wilsonville Broadcast Network he hopes the relationships students build in the gym carry into hallways, the cafeteria and the wider Wilsonville community. In a separate Sept. 12 profile of the after-school Unified Soccer team, he described what draws him to the broader program: "My favorite part of unified soccer is seeing people with varying level of abilities out on a field playing soccer."

The after-school Unified Soccer team practices Mondays and Wednesdays for about an hour and plays a six-game season. Top teams can earn an invitation to Providence Park for a Special Olympics tournament.

Wilsonville High is part of the West Linn-Wilsonville School District, which serves 8,880 students across 17 schools. Principal McIntire wrote in an August welcome letter to families that the school remains committed to inclusion for every student.

Special Olympics Oregon's Fall State Games are scheduled for Nov. 14 at Providence Park and Lincoln High School in Portland.