BUILDing Future Leaders
by KEVIN CRONK
Best Buddies New Mexico
Peter and Jessica
BBNM Group Shot |
On Saturday December 12, 2009 Buddies from all over the state went through BUILD (Buddies United in Leadership Development) training, conducted by Kali Wasenko (BBI, Miami). Each of the Buddies went through a 5 hours of intense speech writing exercise, were they were asked to think about life before and after Best Buddies. Peer Buddies from their school and the community served as their speech coaches and assisted in the workshops.
The day started with introductions and secret handshakes. Then the Buddies and Peer Buddies were asked to go around the room and answer questions that would drive topics for their speeches. After discussing the topics the students went hard to work only to brake during lunch at Saggios. After lunch the students finished their speeches and then had a chance to present to their Peers.
It was amazing to see the Buddies blossom with just five hours of people telling them that they could do anything they put their mind to. At the beginning of the day several Buddies approached Kali stating that they were not and could not write a speech or speak in front of a crowd.
Kali, on the other hand, would simply nod and point to her #1 rule: YOU MUST TRY. By the end of the day these same students proudly read their speeches to the group and stated that they wanted to read in front of a larger group at the reception.
During the reception, the Buddies each presented their speech to a room full of family and friends. Each person in the room was in awe of the Buddies stories, speeches, and confidence. KOB, channel 4, was also present during the speeches and conducted some personal interviews.
Ms. Davis, talked about life for her daughter before being in the program and how in just two months her daughter has developed into someone completely different. Dawn Davis, stated, “This is not my daughter, she would never go in front of a crowd and present something, Best Buddies has been the icing on the cake!”
Best Buddies is truly changing the lives of individual with intellectual disabilities. Each of the Buddies that went through BUILD training and presented their speech are officially certified as Buddy Ambassadors for New Mexico. They are exemplified as leaders amongst their peers and will be called upon to present during future events, such as the Friendship Ball in February.
The buddies that went through training are *Woody Lowe (Cibola), *Stefanie Anderson (Eldorado), *Abe Assad (Eldorado), *George Hedrick (Eldorado), *Jessica Bowen (Sandia), *Adam Okoye (Sandia), Sarah Friedman (Sandia), *Crystaldawn (UNM), *Peter Labeau (UNM), *Jamar McDaniel (UNM). Their speech coaches were Caitlin Schurtz, Laura Schuessler, Kevin Cronk, Biz Haney, Brittney Martinez, Brandon Gassaway, Santana Lopez, Kristelle Siarza, Alexandria Bazan, Amanda Gonzales, Cale Glover.
December 12, 2009 will go down in Best Buddies New Mexico History as the first of many BUILD trainings to come. Congratulations to the Buddy Ambassadors and a special thank you to all the speech coaches, family and friends. For more information, contact Amanda Gonzales at amandagonzales@bestbuddies.org.
*Buddy Ambassador |
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