Elizabethtown College’s Best Buddies Club is a student organization whose mission is “to establish a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).” In the club, which is made up of 41 students and several community members, students act as either Associate Buddies, who help with events, or Peer Buddies, who are matched one-on-one with an individual with an intellectual or developmental disability. They get together regularly each month, attend chapter-wide events, and contact each other weekly to build and maintain a long-lasting friendship.
Angela Carcella, a junior Early Childhood Education major, became involved with Best Buddies this year because she wanted to make a friendship that could last a lifetime. When she decided to be a Peer Buddy, she was matched with Tommy Levosky, who Carcella calls, “one of the most amazing people in the world.” Levosky works in the Marketplace, Etown’s largest dining hall on campus, and he loves being a part of the Etown community.
Before COVID-19 restrictions, Levosky was a part of the Etown radio station, as his dream job is to be a radio show host. This year, since she and Levosky are not able to be in the studio together, they have gotten creative with ways to keep his dream alive.
Carcella and Levosky have launched launch a Zoom recorded and Instagram driven talk show called “Tominator’s Talk of the Etown.” The show will be led by Levosky and will feature different Etown students, athletes, professors, coaches, and staff.
Levosky hopes that people listening to his show will learn that “we have awesome and cool people on campus,” he said.
One of the biggest things Carcella has learned from spending time with Levosky is that she should always enjoy the little things in life. Levosky’s positive attitude and appreciation for small victories has brought light into her life, and she hopes his talk show will give him the ability to share that light with many others in the campus community.
“In a time of unknown, Tommy is finding a way to stay happy and do things he loves even with restrictions,” Carcella said. “If the community can share the joy Tommy has with doing his show, it could help to make these unexpected times a little less stressful.”
Carcella and Levosky both hope that “Tominator’s Talk of the Etown” will encourage more people in the Elizabethtown College community to join the Best Buddies Club. Levosky believes more people should be involved because “they can make a difference in someone else’s life by being a friend.”
“I think Best Buddies is a way to highlight the colleges motto, ‘educate for service,’ because being a part of the club allows someone to give while they are still getting something in return,” Carcella said. “Best Buddies offers an amazing opportunity for college students by getting them involved in the local community and connecting them with outstanding people who fly under the radar.”
You can listen to the show on their Instagram account, @tominatorstalkoftheetown, where they post every Tuesday night.