New Rochelle's "Best Buddies" Program Wins Award, Creates Friendship

New Rochelle High School seniors—Kit Brickel, who is in general education, and Dajah Crarew, who is in special education—were asked how they became best friends during New Rochelle High Schools’ transition fair Monday.

They both looked at each other and smiled. Then Brickel responded, “We both love getting our nails done.”

Again they laughed, and Crarew spread her fingers and admired her glossy blue nails.

“Dajah is definitely the more stylish one,” Brickel added.

Brickel said she and Crarew became friends in their sophomore year through New Rochelle High School’s Best Buddies program, which is an international organization that seeks to create one-on-one friendships between special- and general-education students.

The same Best Buddies program that brought Brickel and Crarew together also won an award for best Best Buddies chapter in New York State.

And that award was presented by Alice Dannenberg, program manager of Best Buddies in New York, to Brickel and Crarew during the transition fair.

“Typically there’s no interaction between general and special education students,” Dannenberg said. “This Best Buddies chapter created mutually beneficial friendships, and you could visually see them both having a meaningful time.”

This award is the latest triumphant for New Rochelle High School, whose dramatic game-winning, half-court shot was all over ESPN, the football team won the state championship and New Rochelle High School alum Ray Rice won the super bowl with the Baltimore Ravens.

“Out of all the awards New Rochelle High School won this year,” said Naomi Brickel, who is Kit’s mother and a member of the board of education, “this is the most special and most meaningful.”

The transition fair, which sought to help special education students and their parents transition from high school to college or high school to the adult life, began in the high school’s cafeteria, where over 40 agencies were represented.

The transition fair was run by the director of special and alternative education Yvette Goorevitch along with the New Rochelle SEPTA.

Mary Jo Jacobs, a former president and current member of the New Rochelle SEPTA and parent of three students in the New Rochelle school district, said SEPTA provides state and federal mandates, services and student aid for various purposes such as therapy.

“It’s a collaborative effort with the district,” Jacobs said. “The goal is to inform parents on the best path possible.”

While SEPTA guides parents through a difficult and complex road, New Rochelle High School’s Best Buddies is creating real friendships, just like Brickel and Crarew.