On Wednesday Nov. 15, about 40 Huntley High School students gather in the passive commons to participate in a Buddies Club Social. The students bowl, make crafts, eat chocolate covered pretzels, and play Uno.

Grace Kalischefski, Penelope Reyes, and Sammy Martell, three sophomores who are part of Buddies Club, talk about past and future socials. This year’s socials will be held around the holidays.

“Today we have our Thanksgiving social, and we’re making hand turkeys to hang up in the classroom,” Kalischefski said.

Aside from being hands on with crafts, the students get to show off their competitive sides by playing games.

“We’re going to play games, make food, and have fun!” Reyes said.

Buddies Club is a club where students with special needs can come in and make new friends, eat food, and have fun. The kids who are apart of this group are incredibly generous and willing to include anyone who is curious about what the Buddies Club does.

“There were way more socials last year, but this year we are just going to do the holiday-themed ones. We already have the ones for the rest of the year planned such for St. Patrick’s Day, Valentines Day, and sometimes we have socials for Late Start Wednesday,” Martell said.

Although there were many Buddies who are apart of Buddies Club, other students who are not apart of the club yet can join in on the fun. Sophomore Melissa Bala recently joined Buddies Club, and this is her first social.

“I think that Buddies is a good opportunity to meet new people and help others experience the things that we do for fun,” said Bala.

As it goes for the students this was made for, they had a lot of fun. Nick Alms and Trinity Cecer had a great time at the social this afternoon.

“This is my first Buddies Club and it’s really fun,” Cecer said. “It teaches me how to make friends and I’m excited for all the crafts and activities.”

This afternoon was a success for Buddies Club, and hopefully each social will keep getting better and better.

“It’s pretty fun, I like it because I can do different activities with my buddies and pals,” said Alms.