Every other Tuesday from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., the Best Buddies club brings together students from different backgrounds to build bonds and friendships. Some members gather around to sing karaoke from a smartboard. Other members sit at tables in the cafeteria conversing with one another. Best Buddies is a nonprofit organization that help individuals with varying backgrounds worldwide. 

Junior Emma Velasquez is the vice president of the Best Buddies club at Bay Shore High School. She originally joined the club because she enjoyed the environment.

“I love how inclusive that it’s been, and it really just builds friendships all along within everyone,” said Velasquez. “It’s just really fun to be around all these people, and I’ve grown and built so many friendships just being here so I just really like the environment.”

Alongside Velasquez, senior Testimony Ambrobe acts as the president of Best Buddies and has similarly benefited from being a part of this club. 

“I originally joined Best Buddies because of a friend,” said Ambrobe. “Being in the program has really just helped me understand how to be a better friend, how to make stronger relationships. Just like Emma said, I’ve met so many new people, and it just really teaches you a lot.”

Students find the environment of the club both safe and enjoyable.

“It really just taught me how you need to be inclusive towards everyone because so many people here, I know they’ve built so many friendships and have become more inclusive towards other people because many of these kids walk around school very insecure, like not really full of themselves,” said Velasquez. “The buddies of this club, they try to build their confidence in talking to people and just like making their high school experience much better.” 

According to club leaders, inclusivity is an important aspect of the Best Buddies club. All types of students are encouraged to attend meetings.

“It’s really just all these kids, like a lot of them don’t know how to talk to other people, or like make friends, and the club just like is a place for them to do that,” said Ambrobe. “And just them walking in the hallway, just saying hi to people from the club, it’s like a whole new family for them.” 

Many students may have struggled with communicating alongside their peers in the past, but Best Buddies has improved their communication skills.  

“It doesn’t really matter if you have bad social experiences,” Velasquez said. “Like, even me, I think I’m a really awkward person, but it kind of builds your confidence up to talk to people who normally you don’t talk to. And just like the same thing, building friendships just like among people you normally don’t talk to on a regular basis.”

Club leaders emphasize that a big part of what the Best Buddies program is known for is its inclusivity. One of the faculty advisors for the club, Karen Jensen, shared a broader perspective on why inclusion is important.

“Everybody needs to feel that moment where they can connect with others,” said Jensen. “And we make those moments happen for kids that maybe it’s not happening spontaneously. The joy, and it’s joy for everybody. It’s not, you know, being a buddy or a peer buddy. It’s everybody needs a buddy and just the joy that people get from being in the club.”

The Best Buddies program continues to prioritize openness and an overall welcoming environment for everyone.