In order to gain an understanding of those around you, it all starts with the key idea of inclusion. That’s it. Inclusion. The act of welcoming people of all backgrounds, abilities, and cultures with open arms. When this occurs our world becomes less divided as we begin to acknowledge and appreciate those around us, and it ultimately leads to full acceptance of oneself for who they are. Something like this seems to be a simple task, but this idea is not as popular as it should be. Over the course of my life, I have developed the moral of the importance of inclusion. To me, being able to include and accept others is the most significant action that any individual can pursue.
Starting my Junior year of high school, my school decided to replace our Council For Exceptional Children (CEC) program with a new Best Buddies chapter. For those of you that may be unfamiliar, Best Buddies is a club at North where peers work with the multi-needs students in ‘buddy groups’ to build relationships and spend time together. This club is such a great addition to our school, and so many of our multi-needs students absolutely love it. But because I was heavily involved in the CEC program in my previous years I was selected by administration to become our school’s first chapter president, and I was ecstatic. This was a club that I cared so deeply about and I was so happy to help set the foundation for this club. Not only did this accomplishment allow me to practice a lot of my leadership skills, I was also able to showcase the morals that I stand for to an entire group. In this role, I wanted to make sure that every special education student and peer helper felt like they belonged and that they had a place to come together that provided a sense of community. However, this didn’t happen right away. When first starting Best Buddies at the beginning of 2021, we had a lot of people interested. But this number slowly diminished as the year went on, and a lot of our multi-needs students were left without buddies to hangout with. I knew that something needed to change. Throughout the year I tried to make sure at every outing, meeting, and even during the school day that every single student felt like they mattered. Since everyone began to feel more welcome, a solid group of kids who truly valued their time at Best Buddies formed and the club flourished once again.
Although my physical role as president allowed me to become more involved with the club, it was more of the
intimate experiences I had because of our close knit community that allowed me to become a more understanding and supportive version of myself. When working with students on social skills, communication, or schoolwork it was always so amazing to see their different approaches. Some would use special AAC devices to communicate the answer to “How are you today?” and others would play basketball by using their electric wheelchairs. Although these students seemed to be learning from me in these situations, I feel as if I learned more from them than they know. These relationships have provided me with different perspectives of viewing the world that have allowed me to become more accepting of those around me.
This year for Best Buddies I was so happy to be joined by other seniors to form a senior board. Together, we have been able to work out the kinks in the club along with providing an even larger sense of community than before. I am so grateful for the other senior board members. It is so great to share something with people who share the passion for inclusion as I do and it really helps in making the club more about forming true relationships, instead of just showing up to put something on an application.
As Best Buddies moves forward, and as I move forward into college, I plan on holding on tight to my strong moral of inclusion. College can be a scary place, and I believe that everyone should feel like they belong and feel as if they have a sense of community.
And one more side note! If anyone is at all interested in joining Best Buddies, we would absolutely LOVE to have you. Just reach out to me and I can help get you set up! It truly is such an amazing opportunity to work with and develop friendships with those that may be different from you.
Hi Tess! I loved this blog post so much, because I completely agree that while inclusivity is one of the most important values (or at least should be), it is often not well demonstrated. I feel like many people crave to be included when they are feeling alone, but fail to notice others who are alone when they themselves are having fun, and this makes for a vicious cycle of failure to be inclusive. Thankfully, programs such as Best Buddies can exist and flourish, and hopefully one day they can catalyze an increase in societal acceptance/inclusivity. I see members of Best Buddies everyday after PE (with adapted PE I think), and it makes me smile how happy and close everyone is with each other. They’re always laughing, dancing, or doing something else fun, and about once a week I will question why I did not decide to continue with CEC in high school, because I was a part of the Peers/CEC program at KJHS in middle school. I’m not sure what Best Buddies is like at NNHS, but I know back then the teachers would “assign” us a peer, and Christian (who I think is featured in your puzzle picture) was my assigned peer! I definitely had a lot of fun, and am filled with happy memories from those days when I got to spend supervised study conducting science experiments or reading books with Christian. Overall, this was a great blog post – thank you for shedding light on the importance of inclusivity/Best Buddies and sharing your journey as the chapter president!
Hi Tess,
I love the work you are doing with Best Buddies! Your goal of inclusivity is so important to helping people grow in friendships and confidence. Just being a friend to someone can change someone’s life, especially when they are already sometimes marginalized. That makes the work that the club does truly admirable. My previous school did not have any sort of programming for kids with special needs; it was a private school that did not have the means. However, I talked to my younger sister about this opportunity to participte, as we are interested in helping out with the activities and outings if there is any room for us! I would love some extra information about the particulars, but we really like the cause and are interested in joining, even if it’s a little bit later in the year. Recently, I met Christian during my lunch period and we had a nice conversation together. Right away, he asked to be friends and of course I said absolutely. He was so sweet and genuine, and I would love to see him again, and meet some new people as well.Thank you for sharing about Best Buddies and keep up the good work!
I absolutely adore your love for this club and I think best buddies is such an important structure to have at north for the inclusion of everyone. Your passion to help these kids feel just as included as you do and the foundation you set in order to carry out that sole goal reminds me of my passion for volunteering. To help others through these small actions and to see it have a huge impact on their overall well-being is something I’m always so happy to be a part of so I totally understand your connection. I remember freshman year seeing them dance with the other members of the club at an assembly and I thought they seemed so happy the club seems like they put in a lot of effort and it definitely pays off. I wish I would’ve joined freshman year when I had so much free time it must be nice seeing the progress over the years. I think it’s so rewarding for both you and them to be apart of such a positive environment and I’m excited to see what you do for the next assembly!
Great post, Tess! I love how committed you are to Best Buddies!