Boston Clubs Friday night

Student Volunteers for Special Needs (SVSN) is a BU student organization that aims to raise disability awareness among students. Friday Night Club (FNC) is one of the many events undertaken by SVSN. The main objective of Friday Night Club is to create an inclusive environment for teenagers with special needs and to broaden their experience. Many times, these teenagers are put into specialized schools and don’t receive many opportunities to just hang out and interact with other teenagers. Friday Night Club, pioneered by two Harvard sisters in 2011, happens on three Fridays of each month where students from Boston University, Harvard, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology come together and hang out with teens who have special needs.

In the words of the president of SVSN, Jamie Tam, “it’s a big chill out session”. Jamie is a junior studying Behavior and Health at Sargent College. She has been affiliated with SVSN and Friday Night Club since her freshman year. She enthusiastically described to me her first Friday Night Club experience at Harvard. FNC had rented out the entire Museum of Natural History for the event. Jamie was inspired by the dedication put into this event and got motivated to put more effort into the club herself. Having attended two Friday Night Club events myself, I would like to encourage everyone to volunteer for it. You get to meet new people from different schools, and you realize how these teenagers are very much similar to any other teenager their age, no matter their disability. Friday Night Club has a different theme each time, and the theme for the next meet is Halloween.

I totally agree with Jamie when she says FNC is a “welcoming community.” No one cares what you look like or what you do because you are all there for the same mission. FNC is a nice way to volunteer for a good cause and make new friends at the same time.