On August 26, Academy hosted a Best Buddies and Serving with a Purpose Convocation to enlighten the students on meaningful service and showcase the vast impacts of Best Buddies.

The Convocation started with Junior Catalina Bunch, President of Best Buddies at Academy, talking about the program and her experience at the “Best Buddies Leadership Conference” she attended over the summer. She said she grew personally and realized that this is a passion of hers. It taught her leadership and how to make connections across the globe. Best Buddies will be having a Friendship Walk in May and Bunch hopes to have the biggest Academy turn out of all time.

For any students with questions regarding Best Buddies and how to get involved, she can be best reached at [email protected]. 

Catalina then introduced one of their global ambassadors Kellie Howard. She joined the Best Buddies Program while at USF in 2009. She started by simply participating, but learned to lead, then to mentor, and eventually started advocating for the program leading to her position of Global Ambassador. Her main passions are advocating for employees with disabilities and  opening as many doors as possible for those that have been in positions like hers. She plans to “break warriors for the next generation,” and wants to pave the way for full inclusion. Howard closed her speech by saying, “together we are better.”

The next speaker was Joshua Felder, another Global Ambassador for Best Buddies, he also is an actor and dancer. He promotes his motto “inclusion is the new swag,” and “my disability is my superpower.” He currently travels the U.S. giving speeches to promote the program and developed his confidence from the people who believed in him from the beginning. His biggest opportunity came in 2021 when he got the opportunity to dance alongside The Weeknd during his Halftime show in Tampa. After, he got the opportunity to audition for his first movie, and ended up landing a lead role. In “Champions”, he plays the role of Darius. He hopes more people will join the organization to help and wants people to know that his life is better because Best Buddies is in it. 

“Joshua’s performance brought me so much joy seeing someone do what they love and inspire others to never give up on your dreams,” said Jackie Johnson (’27).

Ava Radovic closed the convocation with a talk centered around volunteer opportunities with Academy’s Hands of Hope committees.. She started by talking about her passion for service, and the mission of her club Hands of Hope. It all began during her freshman year, when she had her own service week project with “Celebrate Birthdays” , inspiring her to want to redefine service at Academy. Rather than just filling up hours because it’s required, she urges others to volunteer because it is genuinely helping people. Hands of Hope has many committees including Kids for Kids, L.A.M.B.,, Karaoke for a Cause, and more. She hopes to promote the idea of helping others simply out of the goodness of heart, and breaking systemic inequality.

“I loved seeing someone so passionate about service […] advocate to her school,” said Joleigh Derbes (’26)