Best Buddies is a club for students with intellectual disabilities at LHS. These students, nicknamed “Buddies” by the club, meet up with their “Peer Buddies,” other students who elect to join the club. Buddies and Peer Buddies share a two-way relationship where they are constantly learning from one another.

To help facilitate these friendships, Best Buddies has chapter meetings every other Thursday. That gives everyone the chance to walk around and meet new people.

“The biggest thing at meetings is that we like to let everyone get to know each other,” said senior and co-president Ryan Behm. “That way people are socializing and meeting each other. We try to limit the structure so that they are laid back.”

In order to keep things new and interesting, often times the meetings will change. For instance, a at the end of September, the club took advantage of the sunny weather and spacious baseball field to hold a meeting. Members played games like Baggo, Ladder Ball and Frisbee.

Other than chapter meetings, the club utilizes its time for larger scale get-togethers. Libertyville Best Buddies’ large chapter project is the Best Buddies Carnival, held in the spring. At the carnival, kids transform into animals with crazy facepaint, players become winners in engaging games and everyone has a good time.

“I also like the carnival, it is a lot fun,” said sophomore Mason Reyes, one of the club’s fifteen buddies. “We have the game where you throw the ball into the bucket and other fun ones.”

Expanding the club’s activities doesn’t stop just at a new style of meeting or the carnival. According to Mrs. Recsetar, each month the club tries to do something new and interesting. In October, Peer Buddies took regular pumpkins and made them into art at the pumpkin painting meeting. Shortly after that, there will be a Best Buddies Halloween Party. Instead of watching “Elf” around the holidays, as done in years past, the club will actually take a trip to the movie theater as a group to see the latest holiday themed film. As usual, there will also be a Best Buddies Talent show in May.

The club would also like to add a friendship walk in the spring. The idea of the walk is similar to a charity 5k: the participants take part in a three mile “race.” Only instead of racing, the participants all walk the course together, in one large group.

Sometimes, ideas for activities come from the Buddies. Reyes had a few suggestions of his own.

“I would want to go to Great America,” suggested Reyes. “Goliath is fun. I also want to have a night you spend with your best buddies. Go swimming, have pizza. ‘Best Buddies Night Out!’ That’s it.”

Mrs. Recsetar stressed that leadership is key to the club’s success in planning activities. She attests the overwhelming popularity of the carnival to incredible leadership from the club’s co-presidents in 2011. She sees that same motivation and dedication in seniors Cassie Isaacs and Ryan Behm, this year’s co-presidents, and the club’s executive board (made up of positions like vice president and social media advisor).

“When it comes to the actual meetings I try not to do a lot,” said Mrs. Recsetar. “I think it is more powerful when it comes from our presidents and board members. I think students listen to their peers more than they listen to people like me. This year they have been super comfortable with it so it’s been super easy and they go for it. This year it has been no problem.”

Over the summer, Behm and Isaacs took advantage of attending the Best Buddies Conference at Indiana University. Both accredited the conference for enhancing their abilities to lead and creating new ideas to keep the club active.

“It was very cool because we got to talk to schools from all around,” said Isaacs. “We got ideas from all over and we got more ideas on how to run the club. Like [adding] associate members in the club, they aren’t matched with a Buddy so it is hard to keep them involved. So we put them on committees to keep them coming to the meetings and make sure they are still involved.”

Behm also found that collaboration with other Best Buddies presidents in the area helped generate new and unique ideas.

“I got to get to know the presidents from around here, Vernon Hills and Stevenson, so it is just a cool way to collaborate with people from different chapters,” said Behm. “Because each chapter is a little bit different with what works and doesn’t work.”

The club’s huge numbers can also be attributed to the strong leadership of the club. More than 160 people signed up at the first meeting, and according to Behm, the club averages 60 at each meeting. Isaacs and Mrs. Recsetar each stressed the importance of social media in the strong numbers. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram each allow the club to share their current activity with the community. Mrs. Recsetar also believes that the activities, the buddies themselves, and word of mouth also help the club grow on a yearly basis. Their goal moving forward, according to Mrs. Recsetar, is to reach an even wider audience than they currently do.

“The social media that we use [has helped the club grow],” said Isaacs. “We have an instagram this year and we have a lot of followers. We found the twitter password so we can use it this year. We can reach a greater span of people.”

Strong leadership within the club really allows for the friendships to grow. The best part about the relationships is how they are always a two-way street. Buddies and Peer Buddies work with one another to form something special.

“I think the best part of the club is that you learn so much,” said Mrs. Recsetar. “Whether you are a Peer Buddy learning from a Buddy and if you are a Buddy you learn so much from your Peer Buddy.

Behm shares similar views with Mrs. Recsetar but further elaborates on the club’s ability to help the school.

“The best part about being in the club is seeing what it gives back to everybody because you immediately see it,” said Behm. “Whether it is just hanging out with someone else who is in the club, you are seeing an immediate positive impact at LHS. Some of those kids who have disabilities and feel excluded in certain situations are automatically included. Something as simple as saying ‘hi’ to someone in the hallway can make their day and that is really cool to see.”

The unbreakable bond between the Buddy and Peer Buddy is apparent with Reyes. According to Behm, several Peer Buddies wanted to buddy up with Reyes; however, over his time at LHS, he has formed a special relationship with seniors Nick Tasiopoulos and Sammy Papas, who are his Peer Buddies. Reyes loves to spend time with the always-entertaining duo, claiming that his favorite thing to do with them is spend the day at the mall, something that they do frequently.

To make the best possible Peer Buddy matches, there is a lengthy process to follow. The first step is for the presidents and advisors to lay out the expectations of being a Peer Buddy, like how often you should spend time with your Buddy. Shortly after, those interested will apply to be Peer Buddies, making sure to list their interests and hobbies. The presidents and advisors go through an interview process to gauge the applicants’ personalities. Matches are then based off of personality, age and interests. Commonly, there are two Peer Buddies per Buddy.

Tasiopoulos first joined Best Buddies because he remembered how much fun it was when he spent time with his two older sisters’ buddies. Papas, Tasiopoulos’ cousin, joined for the same reason.

“[Mason’s]  freshmen year we were in the same gym class, integrated PE,” Tasiopoulos said. “I remember him telling me that he went in and asked Mrs. Recsetar if we could be Peer Buddies with Sammy cause he really liked us. We are pretty close.”

When it comes down to the their match, Papas, Reyes and Tasiopoulos seem to be a match made in heaven. They try to hang out once a week. They all admit to loving the mall, where they frequently go to window shop. Movies, music and Chipotle are other common interests the trio has. Recently they saw “Fast and Furious” together and on the way there, they listened to their favorite artist, A$AP Rocky. One of their favorite things to do is sing along to the song “Bass” but instead of singing the real lyrics, sing “Big Mase” (Reyes’ nickname).

Spending so much time with Reyes has really rubbed off on Tasiopoulos and Papas. They describe his kindness as infectious and there is never a dull moment when all three are together.

“Mason is always nice to everyone,” Papas said. “He is always making people smile. I see him in the hallway; I think he is the most popular kid in the school right now, he is always talking to everybody, making them laugh. It rubs off on us.”

Even if everything seems to be going wrong one day, just being with Reyes seems to make everything right.

“Especially if you are having a bad day and you see Mason in the hallway, everything will be better,” Tasiopoulos said.

Buddies are so involved in the club that when it is coming time for their tenure to end, it is often hard to leave. Mallory Marvin, senior and member of this year’s homecoming queen, will see her time in the club end at graduation this year.

“I really enjoy doing Best Buddies and I really like it,” said Marvin. “ I wish I was doing it next year. I’m really disappointed I can’t come back next year.”

Best Buddies can have a much greater effect on those involved than just being involved in another club or sport around the school. It is a unique experience that often changes members’ views of the disabled for life.

“For me the biggest thing is having that experience to be in high school and to get to know my peers with disabilities is rewarding,” said Behm. “People are intimidated by that and you really get a sense of acceptance; you see that just because someone has a disability it doesn’t make them different than anyone else. It has really opened up my views about people.”