On the polished gym floor, basketballs thudded against the court as hopeful players sprinted through drills, their sneakers squeaking under the beaming lights in the gym. Among them stood Dillon Lewis (12), trying out for the team his Junior year. After tryouts, he watched an Integrated Learning Center (ILC) student walk out of the gym after being cut from the team. While Lewis noticed the disappointment on the student’s face, he also saw an opportunity.

“It was extremely sad,” Lewis said. “I knew something needed to change.”

For Lewis, who played football all four years of high school and basketball for three years, inclusion matters. He wanted students in the ILC to experience the benefits of being a part of a high school sports team—benefits like making new friends and experiencing teamwork.

“The idea was to have the ILC students be part of the team,” Lewis said. “So, they sit on the bench, wear a jersey and have a sense of being included as part of any high school sports team. They’d be recognized and supported like any other team member.”

Lewis shared this idea with ILC teacher Stephanie Gregory, and she introduced him to an international program called Best Buddies, which shares a goal similar as him. Gregory saw potential in what Lewis wanted to build and knew connecting him with the organization could give the project structure.

“The goal is that once everything is going, that it’s a completely student led organization,” Gregory said. Lewis decided to build off the idea he was given and facilitate the very first friendship program at Monarch alongside Gregory, Abbie Vik, (Best Buddies Colorado Senior Program Manager), and his peers Chase Gray and Skye McGarry who worked on a part of this project for Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA).

“The Best Buddies program is rapidly growing. It already has 53 active members,” said Gregory. “We got an email saying that we’re now the fourth largest chapter in the state.”

Best Buddies is a nonprofit organization that runs in all 50 states and 46 other countries. The organization has five major components: inclusive living, integrated employment, leadership development, family support, and friendship. Its mission centers around creating opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), helping them build social connections and gain confidence.

“I think our students are really excited to just keep making more friends and show off all the cool things that they’re about,” Gregory said.

“We have some really cool students in the ILC that I want people to know.”

The school friendship program is available for a wide range of ages, spanning from elementary school to college with an additional adult chapter, as well. The program fosters one-to-one friendships between students with and without IDD. It is meant to improve quality of life, boost self esteem, and offer social mentoring, offering students to develop meaningful relationships.

“Whether you have a disability or not, it’s hard to make friends, especially if you’re new to school or you’re shy. Best Buddies is a cool way to make 50 friends,” Gregory said. “It’s a really great way to meet people that you wouldn’t normally hang out with.”

While Lewis’s goal was initially focused on kids being included on sports teams, the bigger picture was wanting students with IDD to have more opportunities for relationships outside of their designated classrooms and with more of the larger school community.

“You want them to be able to have actual friends and that goes both ways,” Lewis said. “People who don’t have IDD want these friendships, too.”

The parents of students with IDD are thrilled about the program, as well, as parents often have fears that their kids won’t make good connections or find their place easily in school.

“Parents were just really excited to have another connection for their child to have these friendships and we had immediate sign up for families.” Gregory said.

The program at Monarch has held a few social events already, and many events are yet to come. Two of these events included a “Friends-giving” and marching in Louisville’s Parade of Lights.

As students start to get to know each other through all chapter social events, pairings will be established, and students will be encouraged to meet at least or twice a month to engage in activities of shared interests.

“Everyone from the ILC went to Friends-giving, whether they were part of Best Buddies or not,” Gregory said. “We had music, and a student in the ILC DJ-ed the whole thing. We had parents bring in food, we colored, and people rotated around to get to know each other.”

Although Lewis, Gray, and McGarry are seniors, they hope Best Buddies will continue into the future, and continue to help create friendships between students with and without IDD. They believe the groundwork they set this year will make it easier for the next group of student leaders in DECA to expand the program even further.

“At Monarch, our goal is for it to last forever. Broomfield has a huge program, along with a bunch of other schools,” Lewis said. “There’s a lot of juniors in leadership that we are hoping will take on the project next year.”

One of Best Buddies’ long term goals is to end social isolation. Vik, the state Best Buddies manager and a former Monarch teacher, says by joining the friendship program, students take the initial steps to accomplish this goal that could continue to help individuals after they graduate.

“A lot of individuals with disabilities end up just sitting at home and isolation really kicks in [after high school], and they don’t have a lot of services or friendships outside of that,” Vik said. “That is really sad for me, and so I really love what Best Buddies can provide.”

What started as something Lewis saw at that basketball tryout his junior year has turned into a program with an already substantial impact at Monarch. These social pairings through Best Buddies may contribute to long term friendships—beyond the four years at Monarch—that may not have happened otherwise.

“I feel like every student should have an opportunity to make friends that aren’t forced,” Lewis said.