The University of Minnesota’s Best Buddies club is a chapter of Best Buddies International, which creates one-to-one friendships between students at the University and students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in local transition programs. 

The students with IDD range from ages 18 to 21 and match with University students based on shared interests. 

Elsa Higbie, a fourth-year University student and president of the club, said the club’s main emphasis is friendship.

“We are a social club more than anything else,” Higbie said. “We don’t advertise or push a volunteer aspect, it’s more just people getting to know each other and being friends.” 

At the beginning of each school year, the club’s officers send out Google Forms to parents of students with IDD and members interested in getting a buddy match, Higbie said.

“We ask a lot about their interests, what age they are, if they like to do sports or crafts, and things just to really get a sense of who they are,” Higbie said.

Higbie said the officers work with parents and special education coordinators from local transition programs to ensure they are clear on the needs of each student. 

“We really try to base the matches primarily on interests, so people can have an initial connection coming in, even if they don’t feel super comfortable talking to new people or getting to know people they haven’t met before,” Higbie said. 

Katie Timmer, a recent graduate and former member of the club, said she matched with her buddy Liam all three years she was involved with the club.

“I’ve been living in a different city now, so there’s not as much opportunity to hang out as much as we used to,” Timmer said. “I was trying to coordinate how to get his birthday gift to him, so that’s been most of our communication recently.” 

Higbie said peer buddies from the University are expected to reach out to their matches, whether over text, phone call or Zoom to keep an authentic friendship going, like anyone else. 

“We try to make sure that people know that other people of varying abilities or different walks of life are absolutely still valid and deserving of friendship and acceptance,” Higbie said. “They are deserving of different kinds of accommodations to make life a fun place to be.” 

The club usually hosts a “match party” in early November, where officers come up with fun and creative ways to unveil the matches, Higbie said.

Emma Jester, who helped create the club in 2020 and now works for Best Buddies Minnesota, said the club meets about once a month.

“Some of the monthly events range from attending a Gopher sporting event to doing a craft,” Jester said. “Some really popular events were the holiday song trivia and cookie decorating.” 

Higbie said the club tries to host many different events to cater to people of all interests and hobbies. 

“We are having a joint gala with the Special Olympics at the University of Minnesota this November,” Higbie said. “We’re going to cater some food, get some snacks going, have some drinks and hire a DJ, and I think it will be super fun.”

Students from the University often participate in Best Buddies’ statewide events, Jester said. 

“Usually every May we have a statewide Friendship Walk, which in the past, has been in Maple Grove,” Jester said. “A lot of the pairs will attend that event with their buddies and families.” 

Jester said another statewide event is the Friendship Ball, which is similar to a school’s prom and is open to middle school, high school and college students. The biggest theme Best Buddies focuses on is inclusion, Jester added.

“Our motto is we want to live in a world that’s so inclusive we put ourselves out of business,” Jester said. “Best Buddies does a great job of breaking down barriers and showing society that people with disabilities are just as valuable as people without disabilities, and they deserve to have a meaningful, well-rounded life.”