City High has one of the most prominent high school Best Buddies programs in the country. The leaders of this club work tirelessly to make students with disabilities feel loved and included.

Beatrice Kearns ‘19 has been an active member of Best Buddies since her freshman year, and she now serves as a peer buddy and on the officer team. Working with people with disabilities has always been an important part of her life.

“I have two disabled siblings and my whole life the inclusion of people with disabilities has been really important to me,” Kearns said.

The youngest of Kearns’ siblings, Leo Kearns ‘21, is attending City High this year as a freshman. Although Kearns was excited for Leo to participate in Best Buddies, she was nervous about him finding his place. Despite these worries, Leo has found a lot of things he loves at City High, including Best Buddies.

“Watching my brother form a relationship with his buddy has been incredible,” Kearns said. “[Leo’s] buddy has changed his life. Even though he hasn’t known [his buddy] for that long, he will impact Leo for the rest of his life.”

Each month Best Buddies throws a party, the most recent of which was geared toward informing students about common disabilities. There were five different presentations. Many of them were personal, such as Kearns’ presentation about brain injury, Leo’s disability.

“There are a lot of people with a lot of different special needs,” said Kearns. “A disability isn’t just a label and I think seeing past that and seeing into a personality and educating the rest of the school on people’s abilities and limits is really important.”

Best Buddies serves as an important part of life for many City High students with and without disabilities. By informing students of common disabilities, Best Buddies members are hoping to create an even more inclusive environment.

“The bottom line is that everyone is a person and everyone has their abilities,” said Kearns. “Seeing how you can make connections with people who are different than you is one of the main points of Best Buddies and we try to incorporate that into our parties the best that we can.”