Circle of Friends, Golden Valley’s peer engagement program, is working to change the lives of special needs children and non-disabled students.

Circle of Friends is a a program that was started at Golden Valley High School in order to help special needs students interact with students that they would typically not have the chance to interact with.

Circle of Friends encourages social interaction between disabled and non disabled students through, hangouts, dances, and weekly meetups that take place during the lunch hour.

During lunch, students are placed into groups of three to four students, where they spend time sharing ideas, stories and experiences in order to build long lasting and positive friendships.

In addition to these small, weekly gatherings, there are also larger group gatherings where students meet up for events like disability presentations and a year end award banquet that honors all of the students that participate in the program.

At a District Advisory Committee meeting, Golden Valley officials said special needs students taking part in this program have state test scores 50 percent higher than the state average.

For Golden Valley students, interested in joining Circle of Friends, must apply by submitting a Peer Friend application to Ms. Foderaro in room 401.

Special Needs students who are interested will be identified and invited to apply to join Circle of Friends.

Parents or the students invited to join Circle of Friends will be contacted by staff prior to the students being notified of their acceptance

For those who have questions, or would like more information about this program, you may contact, Ms. Foderaro, in room 401 or Mr. Nelson, in the assistant principal’s office.

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