Using plastic leis and kazoos, a motivational speaker explained the importance of a positive attitude and overcoming obstacles during a presentation at Pruis Hall.
Motivational speaker Kevin Wanzer, the event's main presenter, used anecdotes and games to explain his ALOHA message of attitude, love, overcoming obstacles and having a sense of humor to the audience.
Wanzer said students benefit from their ability to be authentic with their buddies, being weird or goofy for the sake of having fun.
At the end of the program, audience members received kazoos, which Wanzer said he used at fast food drive-thrus when placing his order.
Natalie Seibert, program manager for Best Buddies at Indiana colleges, said Ball State University's chapter organized the event.
According to its Web site, Best Buddies is dedicated to enhancing the lives of people with intellectual disabilities by pairing them in one-to-one friendships with volunteers.
Seibert said 17 colleges and universities throughout Indiana, as well as several high schools around Indianapolis, have Best Buddies programs.
College chapters often organize buddy activities such as bowling trips or community service projects, she said, but buddies also have dinner, go to movies or simply spend time together.
Indiana University freshman Brad Worrell said he became involved with Best Buddies when he was approached at a church event by the father of Brian von Eiff, his first buddy.
Worrell said his school work and other obligations made him hesitant to volunteer until he thought of a younger cousin, who has Down syndrome.
He said turning down a friendship with Brian, who also has Down syndrome, would be like turning down his cousin for the same reason.
As buddies, Worrell said, he and von Eiff participated in the 2007 Volvo Best Buddies Challenge, a 90-mile bicycle race from Boston to Hyannis Port, Mass.
He said the pair rode 27 miles on a tandem bike, raising more than $12,000 for the program.
Worrell said his friendship with van Eiff would last a lifetime and lacks the drama, fighting and gossip that might affect other friends.
Katie Cortelyou, advisory board member for Best Buddies Indiana, encouraged the audience of about 40 students and buddies to believe in the power of possibilities.
She said through her involvement with the program she traveled across the country and became buddy for a day to California First Lady Maria Shriver.
In 2006, Cortelyou said, she and Shriver participated in a 100-mile bicycle ride along the Pacific Coast Highway.
BSU Best Buddies Director Kelsey Hoover said college students often do not realize how much they get out of the program.
"They think they're just coming in to help their buddies," Hoover said.
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