Medford High Schoolers Reflect On First Year Of Best Buddies Program

MEDFORD, MA — High School students went before the School Committee earlier this week to share their experience doing community service through an international partner.

Best Buddies is a nonprofit organization that connects volunteers with more than 200 million people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in order to help them build friendships and human connections. It was founded in 1989 by Anthony Kennedy Shriver.

“Things are going great,” Medford High School Best Buddies Program Faculty Advisor John Skerry said about the program’s first year at the school. “We meet twice a month… in addition to the group meetings, we have developed one-on-one pairings.”

Skerry added that the chapter will continue to grow in the future, such as expanding it to the middle school.

Medford High Junior Norah Benson is also the Vice President of her school’s Best Buddies chapter, and she said she joined the cause to make new friends and be part of a constructive environment with supportive people.

“Best Buddies is something I constantly look forward to because of the way I get to see each member grow,” Benson said. “Students from all different grades, classes, and friend groups create special bonds and become more confident versions of themselves.”

She added that she has also grown as a leader through the program, as she was first unsure if she would be able to handle the Vice President role.

The members highlighted several activities they put together during their first year, which included an after school “trick-or-treat through the halls” in which members went door to door in the school in costume getting candy.

“Although Best Buddies does focus on one-on-one friendships, we are all a Best Buddies family, so it was definitely an activity we ought to do as our community,” Sophomore Katherine Beagan said.

Skerry said the chapter is planning an event for its first anniversary next month.

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