Oxford High School “Best Buddies” Prom a big hit

By Steev Riccardo

OXFORD - Oxford High School continues to lead the way in special e with programs such as Special Olympics “Best Buddies.

And April 5 they held their first ever “Best Buddies” Prom, an event  that was attended by students from both Oxford High School and Grafton High School.

Oxford High’s Special Education Teacher Rachel Piette and her assistant Lori Green have worked together on Project Success, the school’s special education program, for 27 years.  The pair have also served as advisors for the school's very successful and popular “Best Buddies” program for the past nine years.

It seems like every other week Oxford High School has another event happening to not only raise awareness on special education but to continue in its remarkable efforts with the “Best Buddies” program.

“Our club has grown from about 16 kids to where we now have 78 kids,” said Green, “We can’t even match all the kids we have with peer buddies.”

“The kids at Oxford are great, they accept all the students,” said Green. “We have never had a problem with a student making fun of our kids or being disrespectful since we have been here,” added Piette. 

This is our ninth year that we have had “Best Buddies,” said Piette, “and every year we send whoever is the president of our club to Indiana to attend a convention for four days. Kids from all over the US and other countries attend and they learn what it means to be the president of the club.”

Piette and Green also work together with Patty Ross and Patty Spitz on the Unified Special Olympics program, which recently presented “Spread the Word to End the Word,” and also hosted the Berkshire Music Academy, a group of special needs adults that consists singers and musicians.  Piette said that “The kids were on their feet clapping and the musicians and singers met all the “Best Buddies” kids afterwards” making it very special for the kids.

The programs have been so successful that two former Oxford High students, Amanda Blevins and Missy McConnell, started in the “Best Buddies” program and are now working with Piette and Green in Project Success at the school.

Piette is proud of the work that they have done and the “Best Buddies” Prom is just further proof of how well the programs are working. “It's just another way of showing the kids that even though they have some sort of disability they can still enjoy the same kind of activities as all the other kids, they love to have friends, they love to have fun, they are gonna rip it up tonight.”

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