Best Buddies Program Comin’ At You
The “Best Buddies” program is an opportunity for one to one friendships, leadership development, and an experience people will remember for a lifetime. Over the course of next year, this wonderful program will be happening here at Knoch.
“The Best Buddies program that is going to be started at Knoch is the school friendship program. This program is designed to build one-on-one friendships between people with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities, social which will hopefully increase inclusion, and building meaningful connections with peers,” said Mrs. Leech.
Anyone who is interested can ask Mrs. Leech who is the head teacher for students who will be apart of the program.
‘In the fall when we are going to making buddy pairs, we will need buddies. Even if you are not “buddied up,” there are going to be opportunities to be part of the organization through activities, fundraising, and events,” said Mrs. Leech.
The program can be used to bring students together and make relationships with those we might not usually talk to. It can created a tighter and more put together school atmosphere.
“At Knoch, we are trying to build a community that is respectful, tolerant, and welcoming to everyone. This peer program promotes positive social relationships between students with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities. My hope is that a majority of students will embrace this program and we will see life-long friendships formed,” said Mrs Leech.
Although this is a global program, schools near us are do it too! I had the pleasure to talk to Liz Simms who is a senior at Butler High School. She was able to take part in the program and be the president for it at Butler.
“Students should be involved because it’s an amazing way to make new friends from your school! It really opened my eyes and allowed me to expand my horizons past my typical friend group, which truly embellished my senior year and helped me grow as a person,” said Simms. “This program has changed Butler by connecting the community as one. In the halls, in classes, and even in daily life outside of school, many members of the community, students, and teachers, have all come together to support the initiative and the first year of this program in starting such an awesome club! It has also added a little bit of perspective and brightness into the lives of many.”
This program could change the life of a student who needs a buddy and maybe change your life in a way too. Everyone needs a buddy, come join the program and help out.
“Join Best Buddies! If you can’t join as a peer buddy, join as an associate member and still try to be involved. It really has changed my life and it is my favorite part of every day,” said Simms.
Mrs. Leech- Bocce
Special Olympics Interscholastic Unified Sports® (IUS) is a fully-inclusive co-ed after-school high school sports program. A team has an equal number of high school students who are Special Olympics eligible and students without intellectual disabilities. This is a co-ed, after school program open to students in the 9th-12th grades (through 21). Students train and compete together as equal peers. The sports program will go from first week of December through first week of March. Students must practice twice a week for 1.5 hours each practice.