2021 Champion of the Year Candidates
The Best Buddies Champion of the Year highlights and recognizes some of our community’s most active leaders in the name of inclusion in a 10 week fundraising and awareness campaign. Through raising funds and awareness for Best Buddies, our Champions will generate opportunities for friendships and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) right here in Oregon. At the campaign’s conclusion, we join together at the Gala to celebrate each other’s accomplishments, honor the Champions’ collective impact, and name the ultimate Champion of the Year! Our Champion of the Year candidates have a variety of personal and professional backgrounds, and we see new types of Champions every year. What brings them together is their compassion, motivation, and desire to make a difference in their community.
Georgie Bullock is a special educator who has been teaching children with disabilities and recently decided to take a leap of faith and start her own private practice, Georgie Teaches. Motivated to become a teacher since the 3rd grade, Georgie completed her special education credential at the University of San Diego and her Masters in Special Education from the University of Washington. She has taught 1st and 2nd grade as well as been an education specialist. Georgie is now an in home care provider and homeschool teacher for medically fragile students with special needs, and tutors both in homes and online. When she’s not teaching, you might find her enjoying a cup of tea, cooking, practicing yoga, and going on walks with her husband in Portland.
Sarah Crane works in special education in Hillsboro and has spent her career focusing on inclusivity for all students by seeking to amplify their voices. She has been instrumental in expanding our Friendship Programs in schools within the Hillsboro School District and beyond. Sarah is married with 2 teenagers and lives in Portland. She loves the outdoors, knitting, and even plays the drums!
Anne Dickinson is a returning Champion from 2019. She is a mom to Dylan & Delaney and has been married to her husband, Scott, for 12 years. They live in the Beaverton area, staying active through their kids’ sports, gathering with family & friends, and traveling. She enjoys football season (Go Beavs & Seahawks!), family trips to Disneyland, and spending time in SunRiver. Anne loves to help others when she can, and she serves as PTO president at her kids' school!
Mikaela Ochocki is the current Miss Teen Oregon and is preparing for the Miss Teen USA pageant. Mikaela is a 19-year-old college student at Portland Community College, getting her general education courses completed before auditioning for Musical Theatre college programs for the fall of 2021. Within her communities, Mikaela has always been passionate about speaking up for what is right from founding equity teams in her middle and high schools to advocating for social justice among her peers. You can always find Mikaela trying Hannah and Mitch Tamblyn met while working together as care providers for the IDD community. They are a power couple who share the same passions such as helping others and making a difference in our world while also having FUN. Some of you may remember them as the Fun Squad from the Friendship Walk or from the summer picnic where they definitely brought the fun and energy! Mitch is the Community Outreach Manager for NW Friends Inclusion and Hannah is a Special Education Assistant at Liberty High School. They recently got married at the beach with their closest friends and family.
Amy Reid’s first job was at the University of Oregon where she worked with professionals from around the world who came to the US to study. Two participants in the program were Svetlana, a journalist from Russia and Brigette, a lawyer from the Ivory Coast. They are blind and helped Amy learn about disability and what is possible when someone has the accommodations they need to be included. Since then, she has worked in Washington DC with international groups coming to the US to learn about the ADA and consider how best to improve disability rights in their countries. Now that she is back in Oregon and works at Tillamook, she's excited to connect with the local disability community and find ways to increase disability inclusion and job opportunities within her circle of influence.
Zachary Sapp was born and raised in Lukfin, TX, and has a Bachelors degree in education from Stephen F. Austin State University. He moved to Oregon and got a masters in special education in 2014 and an Administrative license in education from George Fox. Zach taught in Salem Keizer for 7 years before becoming a program associate. Zach is married and has two beautiful kids. Zach has been passionate about helping individuals with intellectual disabilities since 7th grade when he became friends with some of the students and helped them make other friends.
Jessica Stark is originally from Michigan (Go Blue!) and lives in Hillsboro with her husband, Tom, and German Shepard and Husky mix, Maeve. She works for Hillsboro Parks & Recreation as the Adaptive & Inclusive Recreation Supervisor, so she connects people experiencing disability with all the fun that the parks have to offer. Jessica is passionate about supporting organizations like Best Buddies because in college she volunteered at a fully inclusive summer camp and saw how meaningful it was to connect people to inclusive recreation, authentic relationships, and the outdoors.
Logan Stromberg became Oregon's first official state Ambassador in 2018 after completing a series of trainings and workshops. Since then, Logan has been advocating for the mission of inclusion and helping Best Buddies reach new audiences. His biggest speaking engagements to date have been the Best Buddies Leadership Conference Closing Ceremonies in 2019 and he cohosted our 2020 Virtual Champions of Inclusion Gala. Logan loves football and cooking which is what actually led him to Best Buddies in the first place! After hearing that his two favorite celebrities, Tom Brady and Guy Fieri, are Best Buddies Ambassadors, he and his stepmom got involved and helped get Best Buddies in Oregon established.
THANK YOU TO OUR BEER SPONSORS!
Mission Moment: Ambassador: Olivia Gibson
Mission Moment: Ambassador: Jasmine Pfafman
Originally from New Zealand, this kiwi, Olivia, now resides in Tillamook. After graduating from high school, Olivia had few opportunities for socialization. Once COVID hit, Oliva became more isolated and lonely, which led her to join Best Buddies’ weekly virtual hangouts to keep her active and to make friends. Olivia has now completed a series of trainings and workshops with Best Buddies to build her confidence and serves as an Oregon Ambassador to advocate for more inclusive opportunities for individuals with disabilities.
College freshman majoring in Education, Jasmine joined Best Buddies her junior year at Liberty High School because she wanted to make new friends. Since then, she has been participating in weekly virtual hangouts, became an Oregon Ambassador and new buddy to Olivia! Jasmine’s other passion includes ceramic art. One of her previous ceramic art sculptures was accepted into the juried American Museum of Ceramic Art annual high school show. Her art was selected from among the submissions of high school students across the nation! You can get your hands on one of her custom pieces today in the silent auction.
Keynote Speaker: Global Speaker and Advocate, Karen Gaffney Famed distance swimmer and Down Syndrome activist Karen Gaffney has spent her life showing the world that commitment, determination, and vision are the hallmarks of a well-lived life and not believing false limits imposed by other people’s expectations. Well-known for her extraordinary exploits as a swimmer (she has swum the English Channel with teammates, swam nine miles across Lake Tahoe, and swam across Lake Champlain and San Francisco Bay). President of the Karen Gaffney Foundation, Karen is the first person with Down syndrome to deliver a TED Talk and presented to one of the largest TEDx venues in the world in Portland, Oregon in 2015. Karen has traveled all over the world and spoken to audiences in Ireland, England, Norway, Singapore, Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada, as well as the US.