{"id":174664,"date":"2023-09-25T12:15:37","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T16:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/?p=174664"},"modified":"2023-09-27T11:23:17","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T15:23:17","slug":"20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023","title":{"rendered":"20th Annual Best Buddies Leadership Conference 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\">[vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/6&#8243;][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;2\/3&#8243;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;174668&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221;][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;15px&#8221;][vc_column_text]\n<h3>SOUTH CAROLINA SENDS 17 REPRESENTATIVES TO THE 2023 BEST BUDDIES LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE IN BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Greenville, South Carolina<\/strong> \u2013 <strong>August 25, 2023<\/strong> \u2013 Seventeen Best Buddies representatives from <strong>South Carolina<\/strong>\u00a0attended the <strong>2023 Best Buddies Leadership Conference: Reunited for Inclusion<\/strong> in Bloomington, Indiana, from July 21-July 24, 2023.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Best Buddies International<\/a> is a groundbreaking nonprofit founded in 1989 by Anthony K. Shriver, dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment, leadership development and inclusive living for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). After two years of virtual Best Buddies Leadership Conference (BBLC) and one year of localized leadership conferences, BBLC returned to Indiana University, with this year\u2019s event theme being <strong>Reunited for Inclusion<\/strong>. The leadership conference prepared student leaders to operate the Best Buddies chapters at their schools, which involves recruiting new members, planning group activities for their chapters and promoting social integration for people with IDD.<\/p>\n<p>The South Carolina office, which has approximately 85 participants across its Friendship and Leadership programs, was opened in 2022. South Carolina sent 17 representatives to BBLC, which consisted of two staff, 11 student leaders, one Faculty Advisor, two Community Leaders and one Ambassador.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLeadership Conference definitely changed my life,\u201d Larkin Taffoni, the chapter president at the College of Charleston, said. \u201cSeeing how inclusion can shift the life of someone with IDD and hearing those perspectives firsthand was incredible. I made so many friends and gained so much knowledge on how to approach my conference experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nearly 2,000 students, leaders, volunteers and staff members, representing Canada, Chile, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey and the United States traveled to participate in the conference. Students, selected to participate in the conference for their active leadership roles within Best Buddies, attended a series of interactive workshops focusing on leadership development, community service, civic responsibility, IDD and volunteerism. The leadership conference was live-streamed and showcased the amazing performances, speakers and education sessions that took place this year.<\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/about\/\" class=\"hb-button hb-default hb-default-button no-three-d\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"-webkit-border-radius: 2px;-moz-border-radius: 2px;border-radius: 2px;\"><i class=\"icon-chevron-right\"><\/i>Learn More About Best Buddies<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;15px&#8221;][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1\/3&#8243;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;174667&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221;][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1\/3&#8243;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;174666&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221;][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1\/3&#8243;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;174665&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221;][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_video link=&#8221;https:\/\/youtu.be\/azDP8NQ3eM8&#8243;][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/6&#8243;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cLeadership Conference definitely changed my life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2080,"featured_media":174668,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"sc-single-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>20th Annual Best Buddies Leadership Conference 2023 - Best Buddies International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"20th Annual Best Buddies Leadership Conference 2023 - Best Buddies International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cLeadership Conference definitely changed my life.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Best Buddies International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-25T16:15:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-27T15:23:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/BBSC-Leadership-Conference-Group-Image.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"leemosler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"leemosler\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"leemosler\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#\/schema\/person\/e016e3c8c2cd3b7e04adf72b23efb560\"},\"headline\":\"20th Annual Best Buddies Leadership Conference 2023\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-25T16:15:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-27T15:23:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/\"},\"wordCount\":456,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/BBSC-Leadership-Conference-Group-Image.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"South Carolina News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/\",\"name\":\"20th Annual Best Buddies Leadership Conference 2023 - Best Buddies International\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/BBSC-Leadership-Conference-Group-Image.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-25T16:15:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-27T15:23:17+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/BBSC-Leadership-Conference-Group-Image.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/BBSC-Leadership-Conference-Group-Image.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Leadership Conference Group Image\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"20th Annual Best Buddies Leadership Conference 2023\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/\",\"name\":\"Best Buddies International\",\"description\":\"Best Buddies is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment, and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Best Buddies International\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/best-buddies-logo2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/best-buddies-logo2.png\",\"width\":115,\"height\":113,\"caption\":\"Best Buddies International\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#\/schema\/person\/e016e3c8c2cd3b7e04adf72b23efb560\",\"name\":\"leemosler\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/author\/leemosler\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"20th Annual Best Buddies Leadership Conference 2023 - Best Buddies International","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"20th Annual Best Buddies Leadership Conference 2023 - Best Buddies International","og_description":"\u201cLeadership Conference definitely changed my life.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/","og_site_name":"Best Buddies International","article_published_time":"2023-09-25T16:15:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-09-27T15:23:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/BBSC-Leadership-Conference-Group-Image.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"leemosler","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"leemosler","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/"},"author":{"name":"leemosler","@id":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#\/schema\/person\/e016e3c8c2cd3b7e04adf72b23efb560"},"headline":"20th Annual Best Buddies Leadership Conference 2023","datePublished":"2023-09-25T16:15:37+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-27T15:23:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/"},"wordCount":456,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/BBSC-Leadership-Conference-Group-Image.webp","articleSection":["South Carolina News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/","url":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/","name":"20th Annual Best Buddies Leadership Conference 2023 - Best Buddies International","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/BBSC-Leadership-Conference-Group-Image.webp","datePublished":"2023-09-25T16:15:37+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-27T15:23:17+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/BBSC-Leadership-Conference-Group-Image.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/BBSC-Leadership-Conference-Group-Image.webp","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Leadership Conference Group Image"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/southcarolina\/20th-annual-best-buddies-leadership-conference-2023\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"20th Annual Best Buddies Leadership Conference 2023"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/","name":"Best Buddies International","description":"Best Buddies is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment, and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#organization","name":"Best Buddies International","url":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/best-buddies-logo2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/best-buddies-logo2.png","width":115,"height":113,"caption":"Best Buddies International"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#\/schema\/person\/e016e3c8c2cd3b7e04adf72b23efb560","name":"leemosler","url":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/author\/leemosler\/"}]}},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-09-25 12:06:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174664"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2080"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174664"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":174720,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174664\/revisions\/174720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}