The Best of Best Buddies — Charger Press

Pictures and article by Sarah Onysio

Best Buddies is an international organization that has chapters all over the globe. Its goal is to establish an environment that gives opportunities to create one-to-one friendships for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The amount of time a student spends in the program depends solely on the role they want. Students can either be an associate member, where they only attend events, or a peer buddy, where they are paired up in a one-on-one friendship with a peer with disabilities. In a typical year the chapter has many events, the main ones being the Best Buddies Dance, the Friendship Walk, bowling, and Skyzone. I have enjoyed all the events I’ve attended with Best Buddies and my time with this club has been some of the best I’ve spent in high school.

For my first year, I was an associate buddy and had chances to interact with and build relationships with many members. My favorite event that year was the Friendship Walk. During the walk, I was able to chat with many members of the club and get to know a little bit about each of them. After the mile long walk around Milwaukee, there was plenty of food and music so you could just have fun with the other club members from schools all over the area. For both my Junior and Senior years, I chose to be a peer buddy. I’ve had the opportunity to be buddies with two different peers.

My first buddy was Matt. He’s a student who is non-verbal and has limited motor skills. At first, when I met him, I had a difficult time connecting with him, but after attending lots of events together, I learned how to read his movements and facial expressions to understand what he wanted and how he was feeling. We grew closer at every event we attended together. This year my buddy is Ethan. Ethan and I have had a lot of time to spend together. Because of COVID, our chapter has been unable to hold large group events, so we have spent most of our time together one-on-one. We have been able to do a lot of things -- go to Skyzone, swim, watch movies, Facetime, etc. Over the past year, Ethan has taught me a lot. Through him easily talking about his life experiences with me, he has shown me how to be more open with people. He has also pushed me to experience new things by suggesting activities that I never would have thought of or done alone.

Both of my buddies have taught me so many simple lessons that have made me rethink my perspective and lifestyle. Best Buddies has helped me become more social, understanding, and compassionate towards all people. Participating in the club events where I get to interact with many different members made me a lot more confident. I am typically shy, but whenever I attend Best Buddies events or spend time with my buddy, I feel much more social. The feeling of non-judgment and acceptance is so different from the typical high school experience that it not only makes me feel more outgoing at events but also in my daily life. I have also become more understanding and compassionate during my time with this club. Learning about everyone's diverse backgrounds and stories has helped me consider how everyone has their own story and taught me to be more patient with people. Best Buddies has also helped me see that everyone isn't as different as they may initially seem. People with disabilities may initially appear different, but with compassion and time, it’s easy to discover we’re all more similar than we are different. This realization has helped me develop many meaningful relationships through Best Buddies and hopefully will help me create more in my future.

All in all, joining Best Buddies will leave you with lasting memories, and makes you a better person. I am very grateful that I was able to become so deeply involved in this club and had a chance to meet so many wonderful people.