New Hampshire Athlete’s Playlist Inspires All

Pandora Releases “Special Olympics Champions” Playlist

Manchester, NH (July 21, 2020) – Pandora and Special Olympics are teaming up to release an exclusive “Special Olympics Champions” playlist. Created by Special Olympics athletes and Unified partners, this playlist will inspire listeners of all abilities to bring out their inner champion. Athletes across the country submitted playlists and the reasons they chose the songs that are on their playlists.

Athletes from Florida, Alaska, New York, Arkansas, Utah, Colorado, South Carolina and New Hampshire are featured in this first-of-its-kind playlist effort.

Making the cut from the Granite State is 17-year-old Hayley Dufour, a senior at Alvirne High School in Hudson. Hayley participates in Unified Sports® at Alvirne with her Unified Partner Hannah Loverdi. Alvirne High School is one of over 70 schools in the Granite State that have a Unified Sports program, and one of only 4 schools in New Hampshire to achieve banner recognition status meaning that Alvirne has met 10 standards of excellence that were developed by a national panel of leaders from Special Olympics and the education community.  Other banner schools in New Hampshire include Dover High School, Gilford High School and most recently, Epping High School.

Hayley participates in soccer, basketball, track and cheerleading. She is also part of the school’s W.A.T.S. (We’re All The Same) club and theater. Outside of school, Hayley participates in softball and bowling with Special Olympics New Hampshire.

Songs featured on Hayley’s Pandora playlist include:

The playlist features opening commentary from Hayley about her reasons for choosing these tunes. The playlist also includes commentary from Special Olympics Ambassadors including actress Brooklyn Decker, WWE superstars Bianca Beliar, Montez Ford and King Corbinand as well as NFL player Dalton Risner, encouraging everyone to have a positive attitude and continue being tenacious even during these times. The ambassadors note that even though Special Olympics in-person events aren’t happening right now due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it doesn’t mean we still can’t celebrate.

The Special Olympics Champions playlist can be found at www.pandora.com.

About Special Olympics New Hampshire
Special Olympics New Hampshire (SONH) is an accredited program of Special Olympics International (SOI) and is part of an international global movement that unleashes the human spirit through the transformative power and joy of sports, every day around the world.  We empower people with intellectual disabilities to become accepted and valued members of their communities, which leads to a more respectful and inclusive society for all.  Using sports as the catalyst and programming around health and education, Special Olympics is fighting inactivity, injustice and intolerance.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Mark Ericson
603-624-1250 Ext. 22 
MarkE@sonh.org