At West Boca, we offer many clubs. Spanning from light hearted clubs such as the Music Club to esteemed service clubs such as Key Club. But today we will be focusing on one of our best-cause clubs in our school, Best Buddies. 

Best Buddies is not only a localized West Boca club,  it is also an international organization that has been around since 1989. This was not only the beginning of this club but also the beginning of better representation for those with mental disabilities. The founder of Best Buddies is Anthony Kennedy Shriver. According to the official Best Buddies website (Anthony K. Shriver – Founder, Chairman, CEO – Best Buddies International) “Anthony Kennedy Shriver is the Founder, Chairman & CEO of Best Buddies International, which he created in 1989 to foster one-to-one friendships between people with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).” 

This organization started as a small group and has now grown to astronomical size. According to their website “Best Buddies is comprised of nine programs that positively impact more than 1.3 million individuals with and without disabilities worldwide. The organization is active in each of the 50 states and operates accredited international programs in 56 countries and territories.” This has grown to numbers greater than any could imagine. 

Now, Best Buddies is one of the largest clubs at West Boca as it continues to grow. The club is currently run by Ms. Rademacker who complies with the same standards as the organization. According to Ms. Rademacker, “Each Buddy (student with IDD) is paired with a peer buddy. The leadership team makes the buddy matches based on similar likes and buddy requests.”

This is now the fifth year that Best Buddies has been active at West Boca as they continue to have fun. Ms. Rademacker believes that the goal of the club is “TO HAVE FUN!  Our club is all about friendship, inclusion, and making memories. Sometimes the meetings are centered around planning for things we want to do–like having a Halloween party, for example, but most of the time we are playing games like “Two Truths and a Lie” and spending time with our Buddies.” 

Best Buddies has already had their first meeting of this year where around 50 new and returning members attended according to Ms. Rademacker. Best Buddies looks to improve and grow any year, but it’s increasingly difficult to improve considering their outstanding achievements in the past. In fact, West Boca Buddies was awarded chapter of the year in 2021! This is all the more impressive considering that they are in all 50 U.S. states.

On top of all of this, there are also community service opportunities available for members to participate in such as “…Buddies Friendship Walk, a Buddies Prom, and other activities that promote the club and inclusion” (Ms. Rademacker). 

Although the club has already kicked off for this year, you can alway join next year. Best Buddies is more than happy to accept new members in coming years as more buddies join.