Best Buddies is a club on campus that allows students to interact more closely with people who have intellectual disabilities here at our school. As a member of the club for the second year in a row, the effect that little actions make on these student’s lives has impacted me more than ever before.

Best Buddies has different “occupations” that can be obtained in the club. First of all, there are the buddies and the peer buddies with the buddies being the students with intellectual disabilities and the peer buddies being the student that is matched to them. When students are matched with a buddy, you are required to contact that person once a week and hang out with them twice a month until the end of the school year. You have to be interviewed for this role, and there are limited buddies, so if you don’t get to be a peer buddy there are other options.

You can be an associate member or (recently added this year) an associate family member. Being an associate member does not entail any requirements besides helping set up or clean up at events once a semester. However, this is great for people who don’t have the time investment to commit to a buddy because you can still interact with the kids without having to make a commitment.

An associate family member is basically just a step up from as associates. If you are an AFM, you are not assigned to a buddy but you are assigned to a pair of a buddy and peer buddy. You’re not required to interact with your assigned pair, but AFM’s get to hang out with the buddy and the peer buddy and just get more opportunities to be more involved

Last year, as a freshman, I was an associate member of the club but I was not matched because there were not enough people to be matched with. I was still as involved as possible, but this year has been a totally different experience because I got to be matched.

My buddy is Cameron Robbins and she is a senior with Down Syndrome. These past few months with her have honestly changed my perspective immensely. The way that small things excite the students with intellectual disabilities is so crazy to me. For example, the other night I asked Cameron’s mom if I could talk to her on the phone and she said Cameron was so excited that she was just holding her phone waiting for it to ring. The fact that these students perceive some interactions as super special displays the fact that they may not get a lot of this peer interaction on a regular basis.

There were a lot less people in the club this year than last year but hopefully that changes next year. Best Buddies has changed the way I see things and think about how I treat people. The fact that simply being a part of a high school club gives you the opportunity to change someone’s life is so rewarding and special. Members of Best Buddies also get to meet other people and make new friends while making my high school experience one to remember.