Originally published on 11/16/21
I like Ranger Buddies because I get to learn about everyone’s abilities even if they have a disability and learn more from them. - Parker Melgares, York Elementary fifth grade student
Students at Glenn York Elementary are forming new friendships through a campus program called Ranger Buddies. Physical Education teacher, Andrea Carranco, noticed a divide between students and the fundamental classes and wanted to make a change. Her idea of partnering students with buddies has blossomed into a campus wide program and has been successful in teaching more students about what it means to live and learn with a disability. “If a student has never been exposed to someone with a disability then they simply do not know how to recognize it or how to react,” Carranco shared. “Sometimes students just need a little guidance on how to interact.”
The Ranger Buddy’s program began in the fall of 2017 when her first set of permission slips were sent home to each fundamental student informing them of the option to be a part of the club. For fifth grade students, they were asked to complete a full application and submit answers to essay questions including “Why are you interested in becoming a Ranger Buddy?” The club was only open to 15-20 students who had been selected to participate based on teacher input, and if they were in good academic standing. Once the buddies were selected, Ms. Carranco met with the group after school to educate them on various disabilities, and gave tips on how to interact with the students. Then she created a schedule where buddies visited the fundamental class once a week from 20-40 minutes to form relationships between students. When visiting these classes, buddies participated in various activities with the students such as playing games, reading, or going to recess with them.
At the monthly Ranger Buddy meetings, discussions were held to speak about their experiences as well as more educational topics. Items such as various therapies, technology built to assist special needs students, companies who employ people with special needs, and others have allowed the group to learn more about disabilities as a whole.
Over the past couple of years, she has encouraged her buddies to create informational posters for disability awareness week and speak to their own classmates about disabilities. “This year, our PPCD teacher had a great idea to read books about disabilities to our younger grade levels and it has turned out to be a huge hit,” Carranco stated. Many students shared how exciting it was to be the “teacher” while showing their peers the importance of being kind to others.
While the program is hosted at York Elementary, Carranco hopes students will use the skills learned while in the program and continue to jr high and high school in the same mindset of being kind to all. Rangers such as Nesmah Arafat spoke on the program stating, “Ranger Buddies is not necessarily like a program or a group, it’s more of an experience that I never would’ve imagined until I did it.”