Best Buddies- Chloe Harbaugh

BY CHLOE HARBAUGH BEST BUDDIES

There is no doubt that high school can be one of the most challenging times of a person’s life. Students with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities (IDDs) have additional challenges navigating schools.

LHS senior Mitch Eichacker saw this problem around our school and wanted to solve it. His solution: Best Buddies. Eichacker first learned about Best Buddies while attending a convention at RHS. Eichacker knew that LHS had many students with IDDs and wanted to bring the club to LHS. The club officially started at LHS two years ago. At first, it was just Eichacker and a few classmates that he had recruited.

“It started kind of small with just me and the people I could recruit, mostly seniors,” said Eichacker. “In our two years here, the amount of members, including underclassmen and upperclassmen, have grown.”

Best Buddies takes students with IDDs and matches them with students without IDDs. The club now has around 30 members. About 20 of them are matched with buddies, and then there are about 10 people that are not matched but are still involved with meetings and fundraisers and still get to have fun. The pairs are chosen by the executive board, the adviser and the RISE teachers. Once the pair is matched, they do what friends do; they hang out in and outside of school whether that involves going to the movies, playing video games, hanging out or eating out.

Trey Naasz, LHS’s current Best Buddies’ adviser, learned about the club from Drake Bachmeier, the club’s former adviser. When the club was looking for a new adviser, Naasz was on their radar.

“I had [already] built a pretty good relationship with Yonni and Dax, who are members of Best Buddies, and my interactions with them is always a fun part of my day,” said Naasz. “When Mr. Struwe and Dr. Raeder came...and asked me if I wanted to become the new adviser for Best Buddies, I didn’t even have to think about it; I just said yes.”

The club is made of the buddies and their pairs, the associate buddies, the executive board and the adviser. The executive board, which consists of seniors Eichacker, Kate Sargent, Emily Hall and Taylor Ericson, meets in a smaller group to plan events and make decisions. They do the majority of the planning and behind the scenes work, making sure everything runs smoothly.

The buddies bring the fun. They are just like any other member of the club. They participate in all the group events and just have a great time.

Associate buddies play a big part in Best Buddies. They help with fundraising, participate in the large group events and just help the club in general. Although they are not directly paired with a buddy, they still show up to the group events and help everyone have fun.

The club’s adviser, Naasz, plays a significant role in the club. He contacts the people to help plan for Best Buddies’ big events and helps in coordinating those events by finding spaces for meetings and parties and supplies. Naasz is passionate about the club, which has led to him finding more activities for Best Buddies

JAELA LAMMI & CHLOE ROBINSON

TY SHAFER & TYLER TOWNSEND

CHASE HELLAND & JALEEL DEAUVILLE

MITCH EICHACKER & YONNI PENA

EMILY HALL & DAX HUEZO-VARGAS

MORGAN MCDONNEL & KAYLEE BLOOM PONCELET

to do.

“The biggest thing about Best Buddies is that it is student driven,” said Naasz. “The students who are involved run it.”.

Best Buddies is hoping to grow in membership and the amount of activities they do in the upcoming years.

“Our executive team right now is all seniors...so we are trying to find people to fill those spots,” said Naasz. “Ava Leonard is taking over as president, and we are still trying to find people that want to take it over.”

“We need to have the younger kids spread the word around, whether that's through social media or posters in the school,” said Leonard. “I know people want to join, so I am really excited to see the progress we can make next year.” Naasz believes the club needs to be promoted by the students, faculty and staff to help its success as well.

“The biggest thing is just promoting it and getting kids and parents aware of what Best Buddies is,” said Naasz. “Once people get aware of it and think that it’s something fun that they want to do and be involved in, that’s how we are going to grow.”

LHS junior Ava Leonard joined Best Buddies KATE SARGENT & JAELYN GALLOWAY

two years ago when Eichacker told her that they were looking for people to join the club. Leonard was excited to join because she has always had a special spot for kids with IDDs in her heart.

“I love Best Buddies because generally most students do not get to interact with kids that have IDDs,” said Leonard. “It’s fun being able to know their names, seeing them in the hallways and getting to hangout with them outside of school.” Another member who joined Best Buddies when it first started is Kate Sargent, a senior at LHS. Sargent also joined two ago years when the club first started.

“I like that you get to build such a close relationship with all the kids, and you get to be influential in their lives and high school careers,” said Sargent.

Best Buddies puts on multiple events and fundraisers. Since the club does not get any money from the Sioux Falls School District, all of the money that they fundraise stays in Best Buddies.

Upcoming events and fundraisers include a friendship walk and a Polar Plunge. The Polar Plunge will be held on April 18. The Polar Plunge is a Special Olympics fundraiser where participants jump into freezing cold water. The event will be held in the parking lot of J & L Harley-Davidson, 2601 W 60th St N, Sioux Falls, SD. Registration starts at 11 a.m. and the plunge starts at 1 p.m. Best Buddies is trying to help raise money for Special Olympics. Anyone at LHS can be involved by registering for the plunge at plungesd.org. When registering make sure you join Sioux Falls Lincoln’s team. Those interested should talk to Jennifer Dubois, Naasz or a student in Student Council or Best Buddies. The Friendship Walk will be held in Brookings on May 2. The purpose of the walk is to spread awareness for inclusion. If people are interested in getting involved in any of the Best Buddies events or they want to learn more information, talk to Naasz or a member of Best Buddies.