Friends Ryan Thomas and Mack Olson like to talk about sports and video games, the kind of stuff most teenage boys like to talk about. Both can’t wait to get their hands on the new Madden ’06 Football video game. And the two Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School seventh graders are pulling for the White Sox to go all the way.
“Me and Mack have the same things in common,” said Ryan, 12. “We like the Chicago White Sox, and we think the Sox are going to win. If the Sox win, me and Mack are going to celebrate.”
The two are good friends in and outside of school, which is the goal of the Best Buddies program at Brooks Middle School. Since 2001, Brooks, along with Percy Julian Middle School, have been a part of the worldwide program that links developmentally disabled students with their non-“d.d.” peers.
The program was founded in 1989 by Anthony Kennedy Shriver, nephew of John F. Kennedy. Shriver’s mother, Eunice, founded the Special Olympics. Best Buddies has chapters in high schools, middle schools and colleges in the United States and abroad.
“We were founded on the premise that everybody needs friends,” said Marie Kochum, high school program manager for Best Buddies, and a former Best Buddy while in college. Kochum works with teachers at Brooks and Julian.
“Everybody needs social interaction and for people with disabilities, the only people they interact with is their classmates,” she said.
Brooks and Julian are two of only five middle schools in the state with the program. The program has 22 high schools and 19 colleges in Illinois. More than 70 middle schools and 550 high schools nationwide host the Best Buddies program.
The schools organize after-school activities to give kids opportunities to interact. Brooks’ program meets every third Thursday of the month.
Last week, about 40 kids met after school and took part in a number of activities, like coming up with a slogan for the Best Buddies program and coloring the logo. “Best Buddies Rocks” was one of the slogans a few kids came up with.
Ryan and Mack found time to formulate a few ideas around their Madden and Sox talk.
“Me and my buddy Ryan, we’re cool outside of school,” said Mack, 13, who became a Best Buddy last school year. The two even went to camp over the summer.
“I think it’s pretty fun,” Mack said of the program. “I think it’s pretty cool. You get to meet people and stuff like that.”
Of the 48 total students involved, 17-20 are special needs students, said teacher Susan Diehl, a special education major in college and a Best Buddy herself.
“It’s nice to see my students interact with their peers,” she said. “It’s nice to see other kids approaching them and initiating interaction, which doesn’t usually happen. A lot of times at lunchtime, my kids will go off by themselves. So one of the things I hope Best Buddies does is have those kids maybe come and talk to them and eat lunch with them.”
The after-school setting is a starting point, she said. The program’s main goal is to get the students interacting during regular school hours and outside of school.
Diehl said her students and those at Julian wanted to have a dance, so the schools have planned one for December at Brooks. At the end of the year, the students will take a field trip to Enchanted Castle in Lombard.
Because the program links those with special needs with their peers, Diehl said the students can carry the Best Buddies experience with them later on.
“This is a group of friends that my kids can know all throughout the rest of their school career,” she said.
For more information about Brooks’ Best Buddies program, call Susan Diehl at 524-3050. For Julian Middle School, call 524-3040. Or visit the Best Buddies website: bestbuddies.org.
CONTACT: tdean@wjinc.com
