Peyton Marshall (left of picture) has been a part of Best Buddies all four years of high school and Aiden Riehle (right of picture) has been with Best Buddies for two years. Peyton’s why for joining Best Buddies was through her mom, who is a Special Education teacher at Prairie Point. Her mom encouraged Peyton to join in 7th grade due to being involved in Special Olympics, helping paras in her classes since elementary school, and she has many friends with disabilities.

According to Aiden, he wanted to join the Best Buddies program at Prairie High School to see Peyton, his other friends, WWE, attend football, soccer and many other games. And of course, his favorite snacks – s’mores, popcorn and chocolate ice cream!

The duo has completed many achievements while being a part of Best Buddies. One of Aiden’s favorites has been to be able to participate in the Special Olympics.

“I accomplished making new friendships participating in the Special Olympics.” Aiden said.

Aiden ate lunch with his peers, enjoying brownies, cupcakes and having Nerf gun battles. He specifically enjoyed playing with his brother and nephew during this time.

One of their favorite memories of being a part of Best Buddies is when Peyton and Aiden decided to do a funny joke during their monthly meeting. They decided to do it on Laural who absolutely hates the 6-7 joke, so during their meeting they kept doing the 6-7 hands and sneaking it into sentences. After a little bit, Laural noticed and gave them her mad eyes that made the duo die laughing!

Peyton’s message that she would like to share with others in the community about the importance of inclusion and friendships is that everyone should feel they have a friend they can connect to without being judged. “Friends make life better and bring joy into our everyday life.”

Peyton also shared that inclusion makes people’s lives better, it makes everyone belong and most importantly makes new friends. She encourages others that when you see someone you do not know, someone who gets made fun of, or doesn’t have a lot of great friends, say hello and get to know them. It may cause joy to spread and even a friendship may spark.

Aiden’s message that he would like to share with the community about the importance of inclusion and friendships is that everyone deserves a friend to play video games and watch movies with. At Best Buddies Iowa, we 100% agree!