New Year, New Buddies

After collecting and analyzing results of the past season, Ana Isabel Garcia, Andrés Rendon along with Carolina Zuluaga and the rest of the middle school staff positively altered the Buddies program.

By considering the issues that arose during last year’s session, the Buddies team changed several aspects of the staple program. The Buddies initiative is one of the bridges that connects the both middle and high school. This program incorporates both schools by having older students teaching various life skills to the younger ones. However, during this quarter, the Buddies season began a transformation in its logistics.  

“Before each year was divided in six homerooms and this year we decided to separate them in groups of seven. There are around 15 middle school students per group which helps make the experience more personalized and it also helps the high school students manage discipline,” as Buddies high school director Ana Isabel García explained.

In the previous years, there was a rather vast group of students shoved together in one classroom with up to six high schoolers teaching them, which often  lead to a boring, generalized, messy, and cold experience ,where little was learned, especially in classes were the boy to girl ratio was massive.

“There were only four girls and a lot of boys in my class  and I really didn’t like that because I could not be with my friends,” 7th grader Antonia Pelaez recalled.

Due to these observations, the Buddies team, in collaboration with the middle school staff, changed the logistics of the program for the better.

“Additionally, in middle school with their own criteria, they reorganized homerooms searching for an equilibrium in the quantity of boys and girls,” stated Garcia.

But perhaps the most important innovation are the addition of new topics. Traditionally, Buddies featured themes of prevention, cybernetique, and teamwork, however, this new season, the program discussed new issues for a fresher take.

“We also changed some of the subjects. We are working more on life skills, decision taking, themes related with studying and ways to excel academically and we are re formulating the activities and the program,” said Garcia.   

With these new improvements, the Buddies program is approaching a more successful era in which, hopefully, the issues of the past would be forgotten. Garcia went on to summarize the goals. 

“We were and currently are in the process of improving and evaluating Buddies. We are always looking for new strategies so that the program is as benefactory as it can for both the middle and high school students.”