THE BUTTERFLY BUDDIES - Key Persons

Anand Jay (AJ) Nambiar is a high school junior from Long Island, New York. He understands the social and emotional difficulties experienced by children with disabilities which can result in feelings of failure, rejection, and isolation. He hopes to provide these children with the support and acceptance they deserve by providing a platform for them to build dialogue, friendships, and emotional connections with their peers. AJ is also very passionate about various sports including lacrosse. He volunteers as a mentor in the Challenger Lacrosse Program, where students with disabilities learn to play organized lacrosse and can foster connections with other children across Long Island, both with and without special needs. As a member of his school's Varsity team since his freshman year, AJ has built meaningful relationships with lacrosse players with disabilities as he mentored them and watched many of them grow into fantastic Varsity players themselves. Furthermore, he is captain of his school's speech and debate team, and has been student body president for two years, teaching him the importance of communication, friendship, and leadership. Find a message from him below:

Shreya Suneja is a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania studying disability in the context of medicine through the Health and Societies major. She is extremely passionate about helping children with disabilities build friendships, as she understands the value that these friendships have for everyone lucky enough to have them. Throughout high school, Shreya was a member of the Social Competence and Treatment Lab at Stony Brook University which specializes in understanding how children and teenagers with Autism Spectrum Disorder connect with others and make new friends, as well as how to help them form these friendships. She also hopes to continue autism research while at Penn. One of the programs she has worked on with the SCTL is the SENSE theater program which is funded by the NIMH to study how participation in theater can help children with ASD. Additionally, Shreya has written blog posts for organizations such as NEXT for AUTISM. Find a message from her below: