Special Education Teacher Provides Pedal Power

By Nancy K. Crevier

She has never biked more than 15 miles at a stretch, but Newtown High School special education teacher and Best Buddies group advisor Jill Gonski is ready to take on 20 miles of the 90-mile 2006 Volvo Best Buddies Bike Challenge, May 20, in Hyannis Port, Mass., at the Kennedy Compound.

Best Buddies is a nonprofit organization founded in 1989 by Anthony Kennedy Shriver. The international organization provides one-on-one friendships to people with intellectual disabilities in the hopes that increased social skills will prepare them to be a part of mainstream society. The six programs that make up Best Buddies — Best Buddies Highs Schools, Middle Schools, Colleges, Citizens, e-Buddies, and Jobs — match up a buddy with an intellectually impaired person, based on a matching survey.

The Best Buddies program, in its second year at Newtown High School, has 30 participants this year, including several associate buddies. The associates spend time with a matched special education student and his/her buddy, as more students requested participation than there were special education students with whom to pair them.

The peer buddies, Ms Gonski explained, make a one-year commitment to a buddy. The buddies are in touch on a weekly basis and get together at least once a month to go out to eat, shop, get their nails done, play basketball, and “just hang out. As a Newtown chapter, we meet monthly for meetings after school and to take part in community events,” she said.

At the April monthly meeting, buddies dyed Easter eggs together and took part in an egg hunt at the high school. The group will be visiting the Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport later this month. The chapter has attended Newtown High School basketball games, visited an arcade, gone apple picking, bowling, and to the movies this year, as well.

“Over the past two years, I have seen the positive impact the Best Buddies program has had on students with and without special needs,” said Ms Gonski. When Connecticut Best Buddies program manager for NHS, Alison Walsh, brought the bike challenge to her attention, Ms Gonski decided it was an organization she was dedicated to promoting. “I wanted to do my part and give back to the organization all that it has given my students,” she said.

“We’re very excited that Jill wants to do this,” said Ms Walsh.

The Volvo Bike Challenge starts at the JFK Library in Boston for those interested in completing the entire 90-mile course to the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port. Ms Gonski will join the race in Sandwich, Mass., and take it to its conclusion from there. A lobster bake and private concert at the Kennedy Compound reward the bike riders after the event, but it is the fundraising that Ms Gonski hopes will be the ultimate reward for all involved.

Of the $1,250 she needs to raise to participate, Ms Gonski has raised $970 to date. “My personal goal is to raise over $2,500. I have had great support from my family, friends, and fellow special education teachers. Half of what I raise goes to Best Buddies CT. Indirectly, the money will come back to my chapter through trainings and CT Best Buddies events,” she said.

To help Ms Gonski reach her goal, contact her at jjgonski@charter.net or donate online by going to www.bestbuddies.org, selecting “events,” then “upcoming events, Seventh Annual Volvo Best buddies Challenge.” On the left side of the screen, under “visitors,” select “sponsor a rider” and enter “Jill Gonski” when the rider search and donate screen comes up.