Best Buddies at Olympic Heights High School is Creating a Culture of Inclusion

West Palm Beach, FL, March 27, 2024 — At Olympic Heights High School, Best Buddies International, a nonprofit dedicated to creating opportunities for friendship, employment, leadership development and inclusive living for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), is making a big difference.

The school has a Best Buddies Friendship chapter, a program that pairs individuals with and without IDD into a one-to-one friendship to provide social opportunities to participants with IDD and create an environment ripe for inclusion.

The Olympic Heights’ chapter has done just that. The chapter has been running for over a decade and is the largest it has ever been, with over 125 active members.

“People really want to be part of Best Buddies here,” Bayla Hirsh, a Best Buddies in Florida Ambassador and the chapter’s president, said. “They’re not just coming here for a line on their resume; they’re actively participating with their buddies. I love seeing all the different friendships we’ve made and the connections we’ve created.”

The chapter hosts monthly events to bring students with and without IDD together in friendship, and no event exemplifies this culture quite like the Buddy Bash, an annual school-wide fundraising event ran by the chapter in tandem with the school’s student government.

The Buddy Bash showcases the best of what Friendship chapters have to offer at the high school level. Participants enjoy a two-hour event with food, games, music, and most importantly, friendship. The chapter fundraises for the event by selling hats, T-shirts and other Best Buddies gear. Students, parents, teachers, administrators and community members all attend to support this celebration of inclusion.

“I love the Buddy Bash,” Drew Matus, a chapter participant with an IDD, said. “I love hanging out with my friends.”

In years past, the Buddy Bash was held on the school’s football field and hosted hundreds of students, becoming a beacon for inclusion at the school and raising thousands of dollars for Best Buddies. This year’s event, the seventh iteration, took a more modest approach, hosting around 100 participants in the school’s gym.

A small showcase of inclusion can still create big waves.

“I think the Buddy Bash, no matter how big or how small, really opens people’s eyes to what inclusion means at Olympic Heights,” Lilly Gottfried, the chapter’s vice president, said. “It is great to see how so many students, even those who aren’t part of our chapter, interact with our members.”

While the Buddy Bash is the zenith of inclusion at Olympic Heights, it is the little things that show the inclusivity Best Buddies has helped create.

“You walk through the hallways and people are high fiving each other, and you walk into the cafeteria and see students eating with their buddies,” Kristen Bombonato, a special education teacher and the chapter’s advisor, said. “I feel like Best Buddies has removed the stigmas about our students with disabilities and helped normalize inclusive friendships. It’s great to see, and every year the club grows.”

The chapter’s impact has also made waves around the community. Bombonato said that many of her new students had already heard of the school’s program thanks to referrals from teachers at the local middle school, Eagles Landing.

“My students with disabilities, from their first day at school, ask me about Best Buddies,” she said. “It sometimes feels like I am answering more questions about Best Buddies than I am about homework.”

Hirsch and Bombonato credited the recent growth of the chapter to the support they received from the school’s administration.

“As a former special education teacher, Best Buddies has a big place in my heart,” Kelly Burke, the school’s principal, said. “The student body has really embraced it and it is one of our most popular clubs. Best Buddies has helped us create a strong culture of inclusion.”

This is a culture that Best Buddies wants to replicate at every high school. Members from the Olympic Heights chapter want that too.

“I think every school should have Best Buddies,” Gottfried said. “It’s something that we all look forward too.”

About Best Buddies
Best Buddies^® is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment, leadership development, inclusive living, and family support for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Founded in 1989 by Anthony K. Shriver, Best Buddies is a vibrant organization that has grown from one original chapter to nearly 3,000 middle school, high school, and college chapters worldwide. Today, Best Buddies’ 12 formal programs — Elementary Schools, Middle Schools, High Schools, Colleges, Citizens, e-Buddies®, Jobs, Ambassadors, Promoters, Transitions, Inclusive Living and Eunie’s Buddies— engage participants in each of the 50 states and in 45 countries, positively impacting the lives of nearly one million people with and without disabilities around the world. In many cases, as a result of their involvement with Best Buddies, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities secure rewarding jobs, live on their own, become inspirational leaders, and make lifelong friendships. For more information, please visit bestbuddies.org or connect with us via Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.