Meeting once a month, the Best Buddies Club supports building relationships and connections between LTHS students and buddies. 

Eliana Eastmond, the club’s treasurer, reaffirms this when explaining what the club is all about.

“The club is about working with our buddies in the school,” Eastmond said. “And we are trying to build connections with them.”

The club’s president Marissa Essenburg shared that she also believes the main purpose of the club is to create meaningful relationships.

“It helps kids with disabilities and kids without disabilities gain friendship a lot more than just surface level,” Essenburg said.

Due to the club’s inclusivity, unnecessary barriers that keep students from forming these friendships with buddies are broken.

“Once they get to know these kids, a lot of the stigma dissipates,” Kelli McKenzie, the club’s sponsor, said.

Overall, the club’s main purpose is to normalize creating a safe and welcoming environment at LTHS.

“We’re just trying to make this club more inclusive for everyone at the school,” Eastmond said.

The club has proved to have had a major impact on its members by helping them grow as people, and it still continues to be impactful to this day.

“It is a life changing experience, and you get to learn about yourself and learn about others,” Essenburg said. “And it has made me so much of a better human being.”