Beyond the handy texting acronym, BFF means much more to some students than others.

The Best Friends Forever Club is a simple concept. It pairs students with special needs with those without and provides a social environment for the pairs to get to know each other and, you guessed it, become best friends.

The welcoming setting is cultivated through their monthly parties. Month by month, meals are shared, competitive games are played and energetic conversations perforate. Though the wide range of activities may seem discordant or chaotic, it facilitates the main goal of the club: getting kids with special needs involved in general education activities, i.e. basketball or football games.

At the beginning of the year, a student is paired with their best friend. Their best friend is who they will spend most of the meeting time with; the person they will play games with or be partners in various activities.

According to Cathy Sculthorp, Life Skills teacher and teacher in charge of the BFF club, the best friend is encouraged, but not forced, to invite their paired student to gen ed, or general education, events outside of the meetings.

In the case of sophomore Cassie Fitzgerald and Josh Roy, a student with special needs, this transition to best friendship was as seamless as any other friendship.

“Josh loves to meet new people so it didn’t take him very long to warm up to me,” Said Fitzgerald. “It didn’t take too long for me to warm up to him either, once I started to get to know him more. It’s been a lot easier to talk to him since we first met.”

As they’ve gotten to know each other better, they’ve found many things that they enjoy doing together.

“We like to get to know each other more, like about our families, our favorite foods, colors, sports, and a ton of other stuff,” said Fitzgerald, “We also enjoy playing games, drawing and reading books.”

The responsibility of organizing the parties and disseminating the proper information of the BFF Club falls to sophomore Rebecca Hammond, one of two students in charge. Her time with the club has been very beneficial in her eyes.

“I joined because people with disabilities are close to my heart. I also want to work in that field when I’m older, so it’s good practice and experience,” said Hammond. “[As the student in charge,] I’ve learned time management and how to be a leader.”

Overall, according to Sculthorp the gap between gen ed students and those with special needs is being diminished, as is the arching goal of the club.

“We want to show gen ed students [hanging out with their best friend] is not such a scary thing,” said Sculthorp, “They all have personalities just like their other friends.”

“I’ve learned how [students with special needs] are different but the same,” said Fitzgerald. Through the simple act of bringing people together, the Best Friends Forever Club, educates gen ed students, students with special needs and creates lasting friendships.