Chelsea Walker and Breanna Brooks said the “Circle of Friends” banquet on April 27 was a chance to reflect on the year’s accomplishments and to celebrate acceptance of those with differences at San Benito High School.
“We hoped to commemorate the year as a whole,” said Walker, a senior and club president. “We can see what we’ve done and focus on the kids.”
The third-annual banquet was a chance for some of the 250 active students and the 30 students with special needs with whom they work to recall the best moments of the last year.
Circle of Friends is a club that pairs high school special-needs students with mainstream students in groups of friends that meet for lunch or other activities. The program was introduced to SBHS by Casandra Guerrero, a speech and language pathologist at the school, with a small pilot program in May 2010. In addition to the group meetings, members of the club provide an anti-bullying lesson to all freshmen health classes. This year, the group incorporated a refresher assembly for juniors and seniors.
“We are growing every year,” Guerrero said. “I’ve heard other teachers tell me they are hearing kids policing each other.”
Brooks, a junior who will serve as president of the club next year, said she wants to continue expanding it and make more students aware of the tolerance lessons. She also wants to continue with “Football Fridays” when some of the football players join the groups for lunch.
“We have a lot of students ask who we are and what they can do to get more involved,” Brooks said, of their meetings with freshmen classes.
Brooks said she signed up as a member of the club when one of her friends wanted to join.
“I got attached to my friends (the students with special needs) so I became an officer,” she said.
Brooks and Walker said their favorite moments from the year were activities such as a movie night or Valentine’s Day celebration.
Brooks said she has learned to be more accepting of others and to cope in situations that might make her feel uncomfortable. The friends with special needs, in turn, get a chance to practice the social skills that can be challenging for those with an autism spectrum disorder or other developmental disorders such as Down syndrome.
Karissa Agan served as a friend liaison this year, the first year when some of the students with special needs served as officers. She said she was happy at the banquet and she likes having lunch with her friends.
“We talk about what we are going to do this weekend,” she said, of her lunch meetings with her friends. “I learned a lot of things from being friends and how to socialize.”
The mainstream students help their friends learn appropriate ways to use cell phones, text message and react in other social situations.
Guerrero said she’s heard from many of the families of students with special needs that they are more outgoing outside of school such as when interacting with someone at the grocery store.
She said the banquet is also a chance for the students with special needs to be recognized with a certificate.
“Those with special needs don’t always get recognized for sports or academics,” she said. “We encourage the family members to come and celebrate.”
The Circle of Friends program has expanded to some middle schools and elementary schools in San Benito.
“I’m really inspired,” Guerrero said. “We wouldn’t be anything without students and their passion.”
This year the banquet had a catered meal and a variety of auction items donated by some of the families and local businesses including:
– A Special Day Events
– Chris Yoder
– Clink Family
– Hilden Family
– Jerry’s Restaurant
– McBane Family
– Ridgemark
– SBHS Lifeskills Program
– Safeway
– Schleeter’s Academy of Martial Arts
– She’s
– Tonascia Family, Bertuccio’s & Debrito
– Gold’s Gym
– Premier Cinemas
– Pietra Santa Winery
– San Benito Tire
– San Benito Fire Department
– Sassy Pooch
– McKinnon’s Lumber
