Jamie Schnee of Manhattan, Kansas, has coached Special Olympics for 20 years in athletics, basketball, volleyball, softball and swimming. She has competed as a Unified partner in volleyball for the past 10 years. In the Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023, she will represent Special Olympics USA as a Unified partner in volleyball. As a volunteer, Jamie leads coaches’ trainings annually for Special Olympics Kansas. In 2019, she attended the Special Olympics World Games as a coach in athletics and in 2022, she competed in the Special Olympics USA Games as a Unified partner in volleyball. The athletes, Unified partners, coaches and volunteers she has met through Special Olympics have shaped her life.
A recent graduate of Wichita State University, Jamie earned her master’s degree in special education and was named co-department head for special education at Manhattan High School, where she teaches a transition program, an inclusion course and is leading school efforts to become a Special Olympics Unified Champion School®. Jamie’s mother and coach, Kim, is her greatest inspiration, serving Special Olympics athletes as a coach for the past 39 years. She will share the court with her mother and sister Megan at the Special Olympics World Games.