Board honors Buddy Ball volunteers and celebrates spring athletes

The North Brunswick Township Board of Education opened its June 26 meeting by recognizing student volunteers in the Buddy Ball program and honoring spring athletes across multiple sports.

Board member Steven W. described Buddy Ball as a program that "provides athletic opportunities to our students and young adults who are neurologically diverse or have physical disabilities," saying the program ran three seasons this year with "over 40 participant registrations" per season, an average weekly participation of about 30 players, more than 40 middle- and high-school volunteers, and "over 1,300 hours of volunteer service through Buddy ball alone." The board read a resolution formally recognizing named senior volunteers and ordered a copy placed in the permanent minutes.

In athletics recognitions, Athletic Director Mr Morel and coaches highlighted season accomplishments: 10 All-County spring athletes, 24 all-division spring honors, a state All-State third-team selection for track, division championships, coach-of-the-year acknowledgments and several school-record performances. Baseball coach Jake Rosenberg highlighted Jar Carreras’ career totals (quoted as 119 career hits) and noted Carreras will attend Ruckers University on scholarship. Coaches also named multiple all-division and all-county honorees across softball, track, lacrosse and other programs.

Why it matters: The recognitions spotlight volunteer engagement and student achievement, and the board noted many student-athletes will continue to collegiate-level play. The Buddy Ball citation emphasizes inclusion and the district’s reliance on student volunteers to run adaptive athletics.

Next steps: The board and athletic staff thanked families and coaches and noted summer programs and facility projects planned over the summer; the awards and the Buddy Ball resolution were entered into the minutes.