It is one thing to have a best friend, but it is entirely something different to have a Best Buddy.

Just ask life skills student, senior Jake Nystrom, whose Best Buddies pal is president of the club, senior Lauren Capozzi.

Nystrom doesn’t really care that Capozzi is a Best Buddies volunteer who represents the world’s largest organization dedicated to ending the social, physical and economic isolation of 200 million people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  Nor does he care that there are nearly 55,000 Best Buddy volunteers from nearly 1,100 high schools nationally. Nystrom only cares that Capozzi is his friend.

“[I liked the] Best Buddies friendship walk. [I liked] riding the metro with my best friend,” Nystrom said, referring to the annual Best Buddies 5K Friendship walk that took place in Washington D.C.last October.

At George Mason, there are nearly 50 clubs in which students are able to participate. But Best Buddies is perhaps one of the most impactful ones; it is a smaller scale version of the nationwide association in which student volunteers develop friendships with kids who have disabilities.

“I think the mission of Best Buddies really stands out to me to help promote social inclusion,” Capozzi said.

The club usually meets once a month on Wednesdays. New members are welcome to join throughout the year, and are encouraged to attend the meetings and or events.

Besides the Friendship Walk, the Best Buddies club has also participated in several other local events this school year. In November, the buddies carved pumpkins and went bowling at Bowl America. On December 7th, the club had a holiday party where the participants decorated cookies and watched a movie.

The club has nine life skills students who are matched with one of the 25 Mason students who participate in the club.

“We know which people to pair together and which people need what kind of personality. We try to find someone that fits them best,” vice president of Best Buddies, senior Ellie McGuire said.

The Best Buddies club at Mason already has plans for the events they want to do in the coming months. For the month of January, Best Buddies plans to go to a Washington Wizards game. There is a Best Buddies Valentine’s Day dance at George Mason University in February. In May, there is a Best Buddies Capital Region Prom, where the club will take a trip to downtown D.C. to get their moves on with other Best Buddies participants from all over the metropolitan D.C. area.

While the meetings and events are important, the club promotes the idea of building new relationships more than anything else.

“It’s mostly about one to one friendships,” life skills teacher and sponsor of Best Buddies club,  Quynh Nguyen said.

Just ask Jake. He’s waiting for that next metro ride — with his Best Buddy.