On Tuesday, October 16, 2024, the Unified Basketball team made history. The team earned the title National Unified Champion School for the second time. 

“This is a huge banner to receive, to be nationally recognized as a Unified champion school means that we have hit national standards of inclusion, respect and advocacy for students with and without intellectual disabilities,” Coach Chip Collins said.

Collins is beyond proud of the team, a reasonably so. National Unified Champion is a formidable honor—let alone for such a small town. This title is only given to a small group of schools across the nation, and Hopkinton has now received it twice. 

“We’ve already had it for four years and now we’re re-upping for another four years, which is not easy to do,” explained Collins. “You have to maintain sports but also the growth of unified and inclusion, adding programs such as unified PE.” 

Collins highlighted the commendable efforts of Unified team members, including that of Junior captain Johnny Murray.

“Johnny Murray is the heart of the team,” Collins beamed. “He is the heart of Hillers. He fires everybody up. He’s a good sideline coach. He’s a great teammate, and when you’re down he is there to pick you up.”

Murray’s encouraging attitude and leadership abilities on and off the court have stood out to both coaches and teammates. 

Collins also applauded the hard work put in by students dedicated to helping their peers with intellectual disabilities. 

“Johnny has been a huge leader and positive role model for the team,” said freshman team member Avery Schacht.