“It’s one of Kate’s favorite things to do,” Huddleson said. “She’s one of my good friends now. I love Wednesdays.”
Huddleson met her new companion through the school’s Best Buddies program that was adopted three years ago with the purpose of fostering meaningful relationships between people with and without disabilities at Edgewood.
Huddleson, who has been a part of Best Buddies since her freshman year, is student president of the Edgewood chapter.
“When I was in middle school, I’d always go to the multiple disabilities classrooms and talk to them and always had connections,” Huddleson said. “When you see them in the hallway, they’ll always line up and ask for a high five.
“They just want to build friendships, and with Best Buddies, that’s the point of it.”
Best Buddies was created by well-known activist Anthony Kennedy Shriver in 1989 to help foster one-to-one friendships between people with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), provide leadership development and support integrated employment in communities.
Recognizing the tremendous volunteer potential of university students, Shriver first inspired college peers to personally collaborate in expanding the realm of opportunities that people with IDD should experience.
“We really need our communities to hear the positive things that are happening in our district right now,” said Holly Dainton, a multiple disabilities teacher at Edgewood and co-advisor of the school’s Best Buddies chapter.
“We want everyone to be involved during high school and then eventually to be involved at an adult level.”
Butler County has recently relaunched Citizen Buddies for adults with and without IDD.
Dainton said a secondary benefit to the program is “hearing coaches and other staff members talk about seeing a difference out in the hallways with kids helping each other and the interaction because of the relationships.
“This program is what it’s all about — making and establishing those relationships.”
Dainton said she encourages educational institutions to start Best Buddies chapters — whether it be elementary schools, middle schools, high schools or colleges. Edgewood currently has 103 members in its chapter and fills three classrooms when the group meets on Wednesdays.
Dainton noted that Talawanda, Little Miami, North College Hill and Reading have started high school chapters, while Miami University and University of Dayton have college chapters.
It’s students like Huddleson who can continue the Best Buddies motive in the future.
“I feel like I’m a strong leader,” Huddleson said. “So having an impact on that side of this is also like really cool to see.
“Behind the scenes, we get to plan all the events and figure out what would be accessible for all people and not just for this person and this person,” Huddleson added. “It’s cool to see also how the years have grown. Having new buddy pairs, and I can see the ones that have been formed through the years and them graduate together and see them hanging out after they graduate — it’s kind of a cool experience.
“It really is impactful. It has more of a meaning than you’ll see from the outside. It makes me feel good that I can visibly see an impact around the school. The way they get treated is different than it used to be a few years ago when we didn’t have this chapter. Edgewood is such a better school because of Best Buddies.”
For more information about Best Buddies in the area, visit BestBuddies.org/ohio.
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