The Peer Buddies Program at Woodland has come a long way since it first started three years ago. The program began when the Student Support Services Department decided that the life skills kids needed more interaction with other students.

“We wanted the life skills students to be more social within the school environment,” said Christina MacSweeney, the supervisor of the program and a special education teacher at Woodland. “We wanted them to feel like they were more of a part of the Woodland community.”

The program started small with only one peer buddies class. Today, there are three peer buddies classes, as well as an adaptive physical education class for students to join.

Peer Buddies is a way for students to learn important life skills that they will need later in life, such as how to work well with others.

“I learn to work with other kids and I get to make friends with my peer buddies,” said junior, Sami Fappiano.

With the buddies to serve as role models, the students improve their academic, social, and job skills. There are also many fun activities that the students participate in during class.

“I have more than one buddy,” said Fappiano. “Antonio Cuapio, Kylie Vaccarelli, Sarah Reilly, and Paige Brown are some of them. They help me with my schoolwork and we do arts and crafts.”

Members of the program also enjoy going on field trips such as apple picking and pumpkin picking. This November, the buddies plan on visiting Stew Leonard’s to tour the store. Afterwards, the group goes to McDonalds.

While these outings seem like a time for fun and games, the activities are opportunities for the life skills students to apply the skills they learn in the classroom. They can pay for items if they decide to buy a souvenir and their buddies can assist them if they need help.

Peer Buddies has proven to be an effective program in helping the life skills students to learn and to be more involved in the school community.