For members of Best Buddies, making friendships doesn’t stop at a meeting or holiday celebration, it becomes a way of changing how the school sees inclusion and connection.
“Best Buddies Club is an organization where students are paired up with someone who has Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities,” general officer of Best Buddies Violette Hester said.
Intellectual Developmental Disabilities (IDD’s) are types of conditions that affect cognitive abilities, adaptive behaviors and the overall development of someone.
According to the Best Buddies website, it is a student-run friendship club, which creates buddy pairs between students with and without disabilities. Best Buddies helps to create an inclusive school climate for students and a community culture of acceptance.
“You can either be an associate, where you aren’t specified to one buddy, or you can be a match pair and get paired up specifically to one buddy,” Hester said
As a matched buddy one is committed to keeping close contact with the buddy, and ultimately being good friends.
“The purpose of the club is to foster friendships that you can hopefully have throughout the whole year and to just get to know people in the club,” Hester said.
At school, members get together once a month and do a variety of activities.
“We had our Halloween party Tuesday, and there were lots of games, craft stations, costumes and music,” Best Buddies member Vivian Cronk said.
But it doesn’t stop there. Best Buddies works hard for every holiday.
“We will have a December holiday party. We have a Thanksgiving/Friendsgiving party. There is one for St. Patrick’s Day, Galentines and just really fun holiday events,” Hester said.
Even though Best Buddies already had their callout meeting, it’s never too late to join.
“You can honestly join whenever. We have a Remind people can join and we also have an Instagram account with information on meeting dates and parties,” Hester said.
The mission of best buddies is to make not just schools, but the whole country more inclusive.
According to Best Buddies International, they are dedicated to one-to-one friendships, development in leadership, inclusive living, and more support for families who have IDDs.
When joining Best Buddies, it’s not just about making a difference at school but also gaining a lifelong friendship.
“If you’re interested in joining, talk to me or Nora Priest and we can give you the remind,” Hester said.
