Sim added: “Once you enter the club you are immediately greeted with love and you make new friends within a second.” Junior Nyle Sim, who plays football and baseball at Fitchburg High, says Best Buddies is “full of positive energy and good vibes.” “I like Best Buddies because it’s fun and I get to see my friends,” he said. Ninth-grader Sam Lussier simply loves the program and the friendships it creates. The laughter and smiles from both parties is genuine and abundant.” Deven Granger and Savanna Clapper participate in the Best Buddies holiday party at Fitchburg High School. There are many days that I have been in the cafeteria during lunch and witnessed peer buddies finding their buddy and inviting them to their lunch table. “The relationships that have been built are immeasurable and cannot be contrived. “Because of the friendships that have formed between the buddies and peer buddies, the buddies are consistently greeted in the halls, at lunch and in their elective classes by their peer buddies with a warm smile and a high-five or fist bump,” Searles said. Most of these students are in substantially separate classes, meaning they do not attend academic classes with peers in their grade.īut this is where Best Buddies comes into play. The Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities population at Fitchburg High varies from students with intellectual disabilities, Down Syndrome and Autism. Being a peer buddy takes a lot of dedication and responsibility, and I am proud of the peer buddies that we have at Fitchburg High.” “Peer buddies go above and beyond to learn about each individual buddy’s disability and how to interact with them both in and out of the classroom. “The students at Fitchburg High School are very welcoming with the buddies, and each year I am more and more impressed with the leadership skills that the peer buddies exhibit. “Over the past few years, the membership has significantly increased, with this year’s membership at around 35 students,” Searles said. “The program is based on matching students both with (buddies) and without (peer buddies) intellectual and developmental disabilities to create a diverse and inclusive community.”Īt Fitchburg High, Best Buddies meets after school at least twice a month. “The Best Buddies program is a club that creates friendships and promotes inclusion,” said Shelby Searles, who is a Special Education teacher at Fitchburg High. She returned to the area and began her teaching career at Richardson Road Elementary School before she was asked to work in the new kindergarten class at Applewild School in Fitchburg, where she spent her career teaching young children and teaching drama and was active in the arts as a talented performer.That’s the overall mission of the Best Buddies program at Fitchburg High School. Janet Cragin grew up in Fitchburg and attended local schools before attending the American Academy of Drama in New York City in 1952. “She was very proud to be honored by having this award in her name and more proud that Fitchburg, her home city, honored students who excelled in the arts - which don’t get the kind of acknowledgement that athletic or academic achievement does.” “My mom had a special place in her heart for middle school students because they are literally in between childhood and their teen years,” Sally Cragin reflected about her mom in the press release. Fitchburg City Councilor Sally Cragin at the May awards ceremony for the annual Janet Cragin Youth Arts Awards given out to city middle school students in honor of her late mother. The awards and an arts swag bag filled with treats and a plant in memory of Janet Cragin were given to the students by Fitchburg Cultural Alliance Director Jessie Olson and Sally Cragin, a city councilor who is also the chair of Stratton Players. The students were given medals at Main Street Studios in May and awarded Mayoral Citations at this week’s Fitchburg School Committee meeting. ![]() Longsjo Middle School students William Barnor, Guillermo Escobar Pujois, Atera Mbunwe, Dax Richard, Barbara Gonzalez-Lopez, and Lila Perez Memorial Middle School students Adrianna Benson, Lilliana Peterson, Kairi McManus, Yirianny Polanco-Aguilera, Cassandra LeBlanc, and Nuria Aifaro, and Jamayra Beltran and Gavyn Guercio, Trent Rozell, Ariel Alden, Pierce ‘Chaos’ Burgess and Nalyce Texeira-Cruz from Sizer School are this year’s honorees. FITCHBURG - The Fitchburg Cultural Alliance recently announced the winners of the Janet Cragin Youth Arts Awards, an annual tradition done in collaboration with the late longtime and beloved city educator and performer’s daughter Sally Cragin as a way to carry on her mother’s legacy.Īccording to a press release, 18 city middle school students were selected to be award recipients by their music, art, and drama teachers.
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