January 21, 2010 - 2:15am
Campus Clubs: Best Buddies
By: Brienne Prusak
- Courtesy of Best Buddies
In the spring of 1992, the University started its own chapter of Best Buddies, a student organization on campus dedicated to pairing students with people in the community who have mental disabilities.
Best Buddies — a nonprofit international organization founded in 1989 by Anthony Kennedy Shriver — works to enhance the lives of participants by offering opportunities for friendships between college students and individuals with disabilities, who are primarily adolescents and young adults.
The group allows the individuals, known as "buddies", to expand their social network by socializing with members of the University community, allowing them to overcome personal issues like shyness and self-consciousness.
Samantha Koehler, co-president of Best Buddies, said students in the group — known as college buddies — and the buddies both gain a tremendous amount from the partnerships.
“By pairing a buddy and a college buddy in a one-to-one friendship, we are allowing this pair to foster a friendship that would, without Best Buddies, not exist,” Koehler said.
The organization holds weekly events like movie nights, picnics and themed dances — during which time the buddies spend time together, though most buddies are in touch more than just once a week.
The group is currently organizing an Olympics event that will take place this month and Winter Beach Bash that will be held in February.
Best Buddies works to both develop meaningful relationships with disabled individuals on a personal basis and to raise awareness about intellectual and developmental disabilities on campus and in Ann Arbor, according to Koehler.
“Ultimately, we hope that a time will come when people with these disabilities are fully accepted as members of the community and will no longer need Best Buddies to foster friendships,” Koehler said.
