Red Cross Heroes: Sanger educator honored for bridging the gap

SANGER, Calif. (KGPE) - The American Red Cross is honoring its 2025 Central Valley heroes. Individuals recognized for their bonzer acts of courage, kindness and compassion.

This year's acquisition leader is Susanne Peterson, a teacher astatine Sanger West High School who has advocated for students with peculiar needs.

"It's humbling and besides it's a large grant to person Red Cross admit what's going connected successful our assemblage this way."

Peterson teaches English astatine Sanger West High and is besides the driving unit down a programme that connects peculiar acquisition students with wide ed students. It's called "Best Buddies."

"And it truly helps them to get to cognize astir each others experiences, truthful events are created and opportunities are fixed that students tin link with 1 different and larn astir each other," said Peterson.

The pupil assemblage president astatine Sanger West says Best Buddies builds relationships.

"I deliberation champion buddies is 1 of the astir astonishing things that she's been progressive with and she established this programme not lone for our schoolhouse but for our community, for our students to beryllium involved," said ASB President Steven Sanchez-Barrera.

Senior Chloee Zozaya is the president of Best Buddies and has helped program events that bring the full field together.

"We've been capable to person poeple conscionable locomotion by and accidental hullo to each different and not consciousness embarassed, oregon they consciousness seen present connected campus, truthful champion buddies conscionable benignant of allows that relationship and the wide inclusion that we advocator for," said Zozaya.

They person hosted a "Buddy Prom" and "PE with Friends."

"We person our PE, our relationship PE and they're getting on they're buddies implicit determination they play together," said Best Buddies Director Adriana Gonzalez.

Susanne says that Sanger West High is simply a unsocial field wherever classrooms for peculiar acquisition students are astatine the center, not connected the fringes.

It keeps peculiar needs students from being isolated.

"I deliberation my champion time successful Best Buddies was past twelvemonth erstwhile I saw our homecoming queen and her buddy elbow and elbow hooked up walking down to spell to people and conscionable laughing and telling stories and having a large time," said Peterson.

And that's a acquisition each students tin instrumentality with them done life.

There are 10 Red Cross leader awards and this week's leader volition beryllium honored astatine a ceremonial Thursday night.