Teen Helps Disabled Fit In at School

Solmaz Shamsaeirad’s face lit up when her Best Buddy, Michal Goldvaser, bounced into the Birmingham High School special education classroom for a lunchtime visit Monday. Solmaz, a developmentally disabled 17-year-old, warmly greeted her friend and the two sat down to chat.

Michal, also 17, is a senior at the Van Nuys school. She listened as Solmaz talked animatedly about her daily trips to the local YMCA, where she helps out with the babies and preschoolers who are enrolled in programs there.

As she walked around the classroom, pointing out the kitchen area where she and some fellow students prepare chicken and other dishes as part of their curriculum, Solmaz expressed her enthusiasm for Best Buddies, a popular companionship program that matches developmentally disabled teens with high school students.

“My Best Buddy and I are friends and we like to play games together,” Solmaz said, her brown eyes twinkling. “Michal is funny and she’s nice.”

Michal, an Encino resident, is just as enthusiastic about the in-school program, which she organized at Birmingham last year. The school activist matched 16 special education students, ages 14 to 22, with 25 high school companions this year, most of whom she hand-picked.

“People sometimes are afraid of coming in contact with the disabled, because they’re afraid of saying something wrong, or afraid that their buddy will become too attached,” said Michal, who also serves as Birmingham’s student body vice president. “I made sure that the people who got involved with the program were those I was able to build trust with. We have only people who come to every event.”

Those events include a fall picnic, twice-monthly lunches and game-playing sessions, which include charades and tic-tac-toe.

Best Buddies was created in 1989 by Anthony K. Shriver, the son of Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver. The nonprofit program has grown from one chapter at a single college campus to an international organization with 13,000 participants on 400 high school and college campuses.

Birmingham High was the first school in the San Fernando Valley to adopt the program. Grant High School in Valley Glen now also has a chapter.

Michal heard about Best Buddies last year when the organization’s program manager addressed Birmingham’s student council.

“Michal took charge of the program and single-handedly planned it,” said Carye Goodman, Birmingham’s director of student activities. “She has found ways to get kids involved and found fun activities. She’s a rare individual.”

Michal, a native of Israel, is no stranger to volunteer work. As a member of United Synagogue Youth, she has participated in a number of community service projects, including feeding the homeless and reading to blind children.

“Michal is a student leader,” said Barry Moren, a teacher in Birmingham’s Community-Based Instruction, a special-education program. “She’s the kind of student who makes the school run.”

Michal hopes to bring the Best Buddies program to whichever college she attends next year. She’s also preparing her 16-year-old sister, Amalia, a Birmingham junior, to take over the Best Buddies president’s post next year.

“Before this program got started here, it made me upset to see the [developmentally disabled] kids sitting by themselves, apart from the student body,” Michal said. “I enjoy what I’m doing because I like seeing all the students here happy.”

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