The Bay Area office was stunned by the success our Local Leadership Training Day 2012. Over 75 student officers from around the Bay Area turned out! The training presented a local opportunity to attend sessions from the Best Buddies International Leadership Conference in Bloomington, Indiana.
Sessions included material on the history of disability rights, planning a chapter calendar and budget, and providing quality match support for buddy pairs. The training also provides the opportunity for local officers and chapters to connect and coordinate with each other.
The highlight of the conference included the star performance of Buddy Director Danny and Chapter President Victoria Liu. Danny and Victoria hailed from Foothill High School in Pleasanton, CA. They volunteered to perform a role-playing scenario in which they modeled a successful interview for a potential buddy or peer buddy. Victoria asked Danny about his motivations for joining a Best Buddies chapter, his commitment and availability, and his interests. Danny stood out as an articulate and self-assured young man – surely anyone would be lucky to have him as a friend, and his chapter is fortunate to have him as a leader. As Buddy Director, Danny represents students with IDD in his chapter’s officer corps.
Another highlight was the contribution of Special Education Advisor Rami Aweti to our conversation about disability rights. Program Manager May Tulin (author of this blog piece) gave a short presentation on the history of disability rights. The presentation brought up the topics of both social justice and civil rights, contextualizing Best Buddies part of the social movement for the rights of people with IDD. Mr. Aweti reminded the conference participants that special education is a key civil right, hard-won, for young people with disabilities. Best Buddies attempts to bridge the social divide that continues to exist between students in these two departments of public schools.
Mr. Aweti also represented one of 11 new Best Buddies chapters in San Francisco. He hails from Mission High School in San Francisco. The conference also hosted students from the new George Washington High School and the new Thurgood Marshall High School/San Francisco State University chapter.
As we are every year, BBCA was indebted to the Cal-Berkeley Best Buddies Chapter for hosting the event. This year, Cal senior Hagikah Birden put in extra volunteer hours to help secure and coordinate space for the event.
Many thanks to all those who attended this wonderful day!
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