On Wednesday, March 20th, approximately 30 members of Jackson Hole Middle School’s and Jackson Hole High School’s Best Buddies clubs will participate in the Best Buddies Friendship Walk on the Jackson Town Square from 2:00-2:30 p.m.

According to their website (https://www.bestbuddiesfriendshipwalk.org/wyoming/), the Friendship Walk is the number one walk in the country raising awareness and funds to support inclusion for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

JHHS Best Buddies staff sponsor Mark Pommer stated, “The TCSD Best Buddies program's intention is to empower the special abilities of people with intellectual disabilities by helping them form meaningful, integrated, and authentic friendships with their high school peers.”   

In commenting on the march, Mr. Pommer added, “The primary focus of the Friendship Walk is to spread awareness and news of our mission.  The funds raised help our local chapter put on/pay for events but also help support Best Buddies International as a foundation”.

Jackson, WY- March 15, 2019- Several TCSD elementary schools just completed participation in the national Children’s Choice and Literature Project.

The program, a collaboration between the Children’s Book Council and the International Literacy Association, was started in 1975 and is the only event where children from around the country vote to create a list of top books.  Partner schools are sent a large selection of books every other week. Students use a ballot to identify the books they liked, sort of liked or did not like. Votes are tallied by the project coordinators, with the 100 top vote getters being included on the Choices Book list (https://www.literacyworldwide.org/get-resources/reading-lists) as recommendations for other children.  

Students participate in the program between September and February, with the schools receiving approximately $45,000 worth of books for free.