Finley Friendship Club's
Reputation Grows
The Friendship club at J. Taylor Finley Middle School is all about students helping fellow students. The group has a membership numbering in the dozens and a growing reputation for his work.
"The Friendship club is a program that is designed to focus on social skill development for children in our school with disabilities," explained Finley school psychologist Nina DiGioia who heads the organization.
The club consists of seventh and eighth grade peer mentors and mentees that socialize during a lunch period under the supervision of Ms. DiGioia and speech therapist Kate Carey, who is currently out on a maternity leave.
"The mentors are carefully selected and participate in sensitivity training regarding various disabilities," Mrs. DiGioia said. "This program increases the social emotional growth for all students involved. It improves social skills, pragmatic language skills, and peer relationships for students with disabilities. This program supports the district wide concept of inclusion of all students."
Seventh graders in the Friendship club included Samantha Conte, Jack Blakley, Alex Tacopina, Giorgianna Phelan, Melissa Ingle, Caroline Maggio, Laundary Rivas, Kyle Obrien, Irina DeSimone, Emma DeGennaro, Gregory Rorke, Osvaldo Moreira Govzalez, Sofia Suarez, Justin Waite, Sam Weitzner, Richard Sempowich, Corey Wellington, Theodore Deegan, Jim Smoot, Daniel Mollitor, Kelly Schaefer, Llanira Flores and Jennifer Canales.
Eighth grade club members include Michael Fasciano, Kathleen Nugent, Sydney English, Charlotte Levinson, Kelly Beatty, Alyssa Amorison, Darya DeSimone, Madison LoFaso, Santiago Alzate, Ezequiel Acevedo, Nicole Tavarez Helena, Brendan Dwyer, Jorge Villela, Scott Gulizio, Matteo McNeil, Jessica Tucker, Christopher Glowacky, Matthew Ricciardelli, Julia Dupree, Timothy Mattiace, Hailey Treanor, Alexandra Caffrey, Alanna Cribbin, Edgar Magana Ochoa, Sarah Kitzen, Jillian Lentinello, Daniella Schoen, Jessica Tucher, Kyle Hansen, Karen Garcia, Omotayo Ikuomenisan and Matthew Binetti.
The Friendship club made its debut several years ago at Jack Abrams Intermediate School after it was founded by Dr. Mary DiBenedetto. It later spread to Finley and has proved popular there, too.