Strike a Chord: High School Kids Forge Friendships, Build Confidence in Others

For kids with intellectual or developmental disabilities, socializing outside the special-ed classroom can be difficult. But at high schools around the country, there are groups of students who are taking the time to forge friendships with those who might otherwise have trouble reaching out. 

 

The program is called "Best Buddies"--and that name basically sums it up. 

 

Here is what happens in their high school program: They take a kid with an intellectual or developmental disability, and pair him or her with a kid without such a disability. The goal is to turn that pair into lasting friends. 

 

Those friendships can be rare, especially in New York City, where kids with intellectual or developmental disabilities go to different schools, called District 75 schools. 

 

Rachel Still, a junior at Millennium High School in lower Manhattan, said she is grateful she found her Best Buddy, named Francisco, through the program. 

 

"I really enjoy the relationship I have with Francisco, and I think Best Buddies has let me do that," Still explained. "I don't know if without the club, I would've had a friendship like I do with him. But because of the club, I was able to do that," she said. 

 

Best Buddies Program Manager Leah Burgess said kids with intellectual and developmental disabilities get a lot out of the program, but one thing in particular stands out.

 

"Confidence, honestly," Burgess pointed out. "I think a lot of the students that we work with are ready to make new friends, they just don't know how." 

 

Russell Whitaker is a student from P.S. 226M, a District 75 school that happens to be in the same building as Millennium High School. Whitaker said being paired up with his Best Buddy from Millennium has helped him come out of his shell. 

 

"In the beginning, I was kind of shy, and I wasn't speaking and everything, until I was told, you know, I have to start talking to other people," described Whitaker. "You know, build some confidence into me. And so I started doing that."

 

Sometimes all it takes to make a difference is to be a good friend.