During a Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) meeting before the start of the 2025-2026 school year, parents at McCallum requested for an integration program between the life skills students, who have learning disabilities, and academy students. Junior Isa Truan listened to their concerns and acted on it. Now, the Best Buddies chapter at McCallum holds an all-inclusive community filled with students passionate toward their mission of thinning the divide between students. 

Before the program started, Truan felt that although the divide between life skills kids and general education students was common amongst schools, there had to be a solution.

“I really think we could bring those two groups together to create a more unified class,” Truan said. “It’s also really good to meet new people and make new friends that you usually don’t see in the classroom or people who you might not have any classes with.”

Emily Lucas, one of the life skills teachers, agrees that there has been some divide between the two student populations, although it may not be intentional. 

“There is still some social separation that comes from limited interaction and unfamiliarity,” Lucas said. “It is not intentional, but it can make our life skills students feel left out at times.” 

Assistant Principal Gabriel Adame first approached biology teacher Ishan Saharoy last year with the opportunity to start a Best Buddies chapter at McCallum, to which Saharoy agreed if returned to the school since he was still a student-teacher at the time. Returning to teach Advanced and AP Biology, Saharoy led the initiative this school year. 

“I hope that the program is able to create an inclusive culture where all students feel accepted and have the confidence to talk to each other openly,” Saharoy said. 

After he agreed to sponsor the club and connected with Lucas, Truan started the club by hosting different events for all the students to interact. However, there were a few challenges with getting members to join. 

“At the beginning, I really struggled to find members and I was very overwhelmed because there wasn’t really a foundation yet at McCallum,” Truan said. “But luckily I connected with Ms. Lucas and from there we were able to get started with the help of [seniors] Jojo Barnard and Emerson Merritt. Once they joined, it became so much easier and I’m so happy to have them working with me on this project at McCallum.”

Junior Grace McCarty joined the club soon after due to her passion toward integration of the two communities. 

“Unification within our school is something that is super important to me,” McCarty said. ”So getting an opportunity to help bring students together was super appealing.”

So far, the program has hosted a few events for everyone to hang out, which consist of playing games, eating pizza and attending sporting events together. McCarty enjoys the activities, but also just getting to know everyone in the program. 

“My favorite Best Buddies activity so far was when we got to have a little Halloween party with our buddies and we played bingo,” McCarty said. “I’ve [also] enjoyed getting to meet with new people. All of the people in the club are amazing, I think it’s a really good community.”

Although the life skills students were a bit shy at first according to Saharoy, they settled quickly to their role in the club. 

“The life skills students were more shy to talk to those in Best Buddies at first,” Saharoy said. “But once they got to know each other I’ve seen them open up a lot.” 

Freshman Clove Becker, a student in the life skills class, attended the pizza palooza event at the beginning of the year with the Link Crew and the Best Buddies program. 

“My favorite part was to hug [people I knew] and to eat,” Becker said. 

According to Becker, the life skills students also interact with other general education students from different schools. Recently, Becker went bowling with Navarro’s football team. 

“It was amazing,” Becker said. “[They were] nice and cheering me on.” 

Lucas believes that the club helped to open the life skills kids and established a sense of belonging within the whole school community. 

“Many of them feel more comfortable participating in school activities because they know they have friends who support them,” Lucas said. “When more students participate it naturally creates a more inclusive environment where life skills students and general education students can interact, get to know each other and build real friendships.” 

Truan believes that this interaction between the two student populations is crucial in order for everyone to feel included and a part of the Mac community. By attending sporting events, Truan thinks the life skills students will feel the school spirit more. 

“The buddies are able to watch the basketball game with our members and they can really feel like they’re a part of the school spirit. Oftentimes the special education students don’t get the chance to go to activities or not usually as encouraged to go out and go to the school sponsored events,” Truan said. “So what we’re trying to do is encourage them to come to the school sponsored events and get more people to join so we can all be there as a much larger group.” 

Later in the year, Truan plans to incorporate a more coupling system, where each life skills student is paired with one general education student. In doing so, Truan hopes for the two students to forge a stronger bond and special relationship toward one another. 

”They have a one on one relationship where from then on out they can work on doing outside activities with their buddy, and they can grow their relationship to be stronger outside of the club experience,” Truan said.

While there is still more work to do, Truan looks forward to continuing to grow this program and for members to become closer to the life skills of kids. 

“I’m generally looking forward to hosting more events and continuing to grow friendships with our buddies so everyone can have a special relationship,” Truan said. “Best Buddies means having a community where everyone is included. It also means having a community of people that care about kindness, acceptance and connection with others.”