Leadership Development

My name is Ryan Fleming and I am here representing the Lincoln High School chapter of Best Buddies. I have been lucky enough to be nominated twice to be an Ambassador for Best Buddies.  I am also my school chapter’s Buddy Director!

Having Autism has changed my life. People didn’t want to be my friend. I felt segregated from my school community. Today, however, my life, my experiences with Best Buddies, and my experiences with my school community have been changing for the better.

When I was in 7th grade, I met Jayden. He was an inspirational athlete that I admired. We became friends. As we continued our friendship to high school, Jayden and I became members of Best Buddies at Lincoln High School. We showed our school community what it means to be inclusive and be friends.  After this, I began to make more friends and gained more social skills for when I meet new people.

As we became active members of this great Best Buddies chapter in beautiful Lincoln, we were selected to meet the Patriots #12 quarterback, Mr. Tom Brady, at Gillette Stadium. It was an amazing life changing experience, that wouldn’t have been possible without Best Buddies in our wonderful state of Rhode Island.

Lastly, Best Buddies runs in the family. Through my experiences with Best Buddies, I inspired my sister, Lynsey, to start the first ever middle school chapter at Lincoln Middle School. This will give younger kids opportunities to make a “Best Buddy.” I’m happy that my passion has inspired my sister to make changes within her own school.

I am so happy to have met my inspirational buddy, Jayden. I am thankful to have had the opportunity to meet Tom Brady and inspire my sister to create a chapter at Lincoln Middle School.

I encourage you all to create your own experiences in Best Buddies.  You can create a powerful message to spread friendships throughout the world.