Winter Homecoming has always been a time that students look forward to coming into the New Year, especially when the game they go to involves another game of basketball during halftime. The faculty, Best Buddies, and Coach Tina Taylor worked day and night trying to organize this game so that the students participating in this game played fair and just made sure they had a good time together.

Champions of Character is an organization that helps schools and communities around the United States to host activities and games that bring people together and ensure that everybody in the program has a good time and bonds together. Champions of Character has impacted over 30,000 individuals in doing this as well.

In doing this, MHS was more than happy to host this game during halftime of the Varsity Basketball game during Winter Homecoming.

The game was hosted at MHS against Plainfield on Friday, January 19, 2024, with Plainfield taking the victory 61-42.

“It was fun, it was a good time for me and the kids for sure. We don’t practice or anything but it was still a lot of fun nonetheless,” Coach of Champions Together Tina Taylor said.

“It’s a collaboration between special Olympics and high schools across the United States… we pair students with disabilities and without disabilities together and we invite another school to play a ten-minute basketball game with us during the homecoming game,” Taylor said.

Taylor has been leading the team of students that play during the halftime game for the past few years now and has enjoyed and been prideful in her role as a leader for the students.

“It was a takedown,” freshman Jaycee Fuller said.

Jaycee is a Freshman at MHS and she was the star player for the Champions Together game. That was her comment on how they did against Plainfield.

“It’s the best being the star player… it felt good to be a part of a team,” Fuller said.

“I don’t think there was ever a moment when Jaycee’s Mom wasn’t in the front row of the stand cheering for her,” Taylor said.

Overall everybody has a good time at the Champions of Together game, the parents, students playing and off the court, the coaches, and everybody around the game have a good time enjoying the game while also bonding together as schools to allow everybody to have a great time!