Eureka High Best Buddies Earns Missouri High School Chapter of the Year

The Eureka High chapter of Best Buddies International was named the Missouri High School Chapter of the Year at the annual Best Buddies Leadership Conference (BBLC) in Bloomington, Indiana, in July.

Eureka has sponsored a chapter of Best Buddies, a nonprofit dedicated to creating opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment, leadership development and inclusive living for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, for the past seven years.

The club won the Special Ambassador Award from the Special School District (SSD) of St. Louis County in 2018, and this is the first time it has earned Missouri High School Chapter of the Year.

“It’s nice to be recognized for what we do,” said special education teacher John Deavers, the SSD sponsor of Eureka’s Best Buddies chapter. “We’ve done a lot in this school. We’ve worked really hard to promote inclusion.”

Junior Charlotte Flowers, the club’s secretary, represented Eureka at the BBLC. Although club members knew ahead of time that they had been nominated for the award, Flowers said she didn’t find out they would be receiving it until she was at the conference.

“It was probably the best experience I’ve ever had with anything, especially it being my first leadership conference,” Flowers said. “It wasn’t just a Eureka or a Missouri thing. There were people from everywhere. It was really cool for me to see that the work that we’re doing is being recognized: not only by the state but people all over the world are recognizing us as a chapter.”

Senior Hailey Schneider, Eureka’s chapter president, said that around 70 students have signed up to be part of Best Buddies during this school year.

The club meets monthly during AcLab to check in and plan their larger events during the school year, such as fishing trips, bowling nights, talent shows and football, soccer and basketball games. The members of the club form friendships, interact on a regular basis at school and work with elementary and middle schools and the wider Eureka community to include as many people as possible.

“It’s joyful,” said social studies teacher Sandy Merrell, the chapter’s general education sponsor. “It’s so much fun working with the kids and seeing them interact as peers.”

Right now, club members are gearing up for the annual Friday Night Lights football game next month.

“We want to make sure that we recognize that there are differences out there among us, but there are just as many similarities,” Deavers said. “Just because someone might not look like you, or walk or talk like you, they deserve to be heard like everybody else.”