YOU HAVE A FRIEND IN WASHINGTONVILLE

By NICOLETTE SMITH 

On Thursday mornings before school, the cafeteria is filled with the vibrant faces of students from Washingtonville High School making new friends due to the amazing program known as Best Buddies.  Each person that volunteers in this club is provided with the opportunity to get to know kids that are full of life in the high school’s Aspire class. 

NICOLETTE SMITH FOR THE WIZARD WEEKLY

Most people realize that the the students that volunteer for Washingtonville High School’s Best Buddies Program positively impact the lives of the students in the Aspire class.  What many might not realize, however,  is that the children with special needs make an even bigger impact on the students running the Best Buddies Club. 

Best Buddies is a school organization that pairs students with special needs and students from the general population to get to know each other over breakfast.  According to bestbuddies.org, “The program was founded in 1989 by Anthony Kennedy Shriver.  Best Buddies is an international organization that has grown from one chapter to  more than 1,500 college, high school, and middle school campuses across the United States and internationally.”   

At Washingtonville, members of the club eat breakfast, play games, and have conversations with each other.  During the holidays, they lend each other a helping hand to decorate gingerbread houses.   This club helps children with special needs interact and be social with other students in the school, thus creating new buddies. 

Mrs. Angelillo, Best Buddies coordinator and one of the Aspire teachers, exclaims, “For me, I get to also meet more kids in the general population during our club events, and it makes me happy.  We’re a small class, so it makes us feel more involved with the general population and the school itself.”  Best Buddies makes all the students involved feel like one.

Best Buddies helps everyone that is immersed in the club get to know each other on a more personal level.  Caitlin Golden shares, “Best Buddies has introduced me to some of the best people I know.  This club has affected me by making me realize what I want to do with my life.  I want to be a special education teacher because the people who have changed my life in the best way possible, have special needs and have shown me what kindness really is.  I hope to do that for someone one day.”  

This program helps create memories that will last a lifetime. Washingtonville High School senior, Darcy Doelger, expressed, “My favorite memory of working with the Aspire kids is when one of them, Morgan, asked me what my dog's name was.  I told her it was Lil.   She asked me in September. In December as she was running through her usual list of everyone in my family, and when I say everyone it is everyone: aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, siblings, etcetera.  She all of a sudden said, ‘how is Lilo’ and I asked, ‘who?’ And she said, ‘Lilo, your dog.’  She was too precious  to correct, so ever since sophomore year she asks me every day, ‘How’s Lilo Darc?’” 

Best Buddies was created so children with special needs could interact and create relationships with students who aren’t in their everyday classes.  Little did anyone know how much of an impact the club would actually have on the members running the program.  It has opened their hearts and has helped everyone involved realize that people can find their best buddies  anywhere.