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by Meghan Mullan
Gazette
Thursday, October 20, 2005
When U.S. Congressman Steny Hoyer and Eunice Kennedy Shriver arrived at High Point School Monday, they were just in time to buy Otis Spunkmeyer cookies from special education students.
But if the celebrity guests had arrived a minute later to the Beltsville school, the cookies would have been sold out, said Rondrea Bobo, the students’ teacher.
That’s because the cookies, which were carefully prepared by 12 special education students to sell to others at the school, are extremely popular. In fact, the cookies have helped Bobo’s students to make fast friends with the buyers.
Hoyer (D-Dist. 5) of Mechanicsville, and Shriver, founder of Special Olympics and sister of Sen. Edward Kennedy, were at the school Monday to promote just those friendships.
The two came to High Point because it is one of two schools in the county that participates in Best Buddies, an international non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the lives of students with intellectual disabilities by providing friendships with other children.
High Point sponsors a Best Buddies club where students can volunteer to meet with one of the 22 disabled students, who normally are taught in separate classrooms, said Principal Scott Smith.
The first activity that the peer partners will do together this year is attend High Point’s homecoming game on Friday.
"We thought, ‘Why can’t these students go to homecoming game,’" Bobo said.
Traditionally, school clubs at High Point parade during halftime, so the Best Buddies group decided they will also participate, Bobo said. A parent will drive a car slowly carrying some of the children who are not able to walk the distance, and all the best buddy peer partners will wear matching shirts and walk behind a banner, Bobo said.
The peer partners will also sit with parents during the game.
Bobo said the program has been wonderful for her disabled students, who now are learning to traverse the non-disabled world with help from their new friends.
Last year, the Best Buddies group traveled on the Metro together to attend a Wizards basketball game at the MCI Center. The disabled children were able to engage in many normal tasks on their own, Bobo said.
For Bobo, who spent a year working with adults with intellectual disabilities, Best Buddies is a vital program.
It helps the challenged kids to socialize and become more among others, she said.
The challenged students at High Point, who are between the ages of 15 and 21, are also learning vocational skills. They travel to work sites such as Burlington Coat Factory in Greenbelt, Joanne Fabrics in Laurel, Hillhaven Nursing Home in Beltsville, and WalMart in Laurel to learn useful work skills.
At the vocational work site at High Point, they baked the Otis Spunkmeyer cookies. Hoyer and Shriver were lucky to get a taste on Monday, the day the cookies were made.
"This is an exceptional program that gives students the chance for true acceptance early in their lives," Hoyer said. "Pairing special education students with their regular education peers will help erode the unfortunate stigma surrounding people with disabilities."
Bobo said it is wonderful for her children to mix with non-disabled students. She said she tells the non-disabled children they are making a world of difference and broadening their own horizons.
"Your friends may not all be the same, and that’s OK," Bobo said.
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