BELLAIRE • MEMORIAL • RIVER OAKS • TANGLEWOOD • WEST UNIVERSITY

Lunch club

By Laine Lohfink, age 16 | September 27, 2021

Click the Buzz Me button to receive email notifications when this writer publishes a new article or a new article in this column is published.

SUPER FRIENDS Laine Lohfink, an 11th grader at Memorial High School, spends her lunch period once a month catching up with friends who are in special-education programs. (Photo: hartphoto.com)

No matter what grade I’m in or what classes I’m taking, my favorite part of the day is always the same: lunch. Lunch is the time I get to hang out with my friends, eat, and take a break from schoolwork. This past year, some of my lunches looked a little different. When I was a sophomore at Memorial High School, on the last Friday of every month, I got to share my lunch period with special-education students on campus, as a member of the Super Friends club.

Super Friends is a club that was restarted by sophomores Ellen Baik and Evelyn Carney in 2020. They did this with the help of sponsor Leslie Ott, who is Memorial’s Autism Intervention and Management teacher and the Special Education department chair. Ellen and Evelyn reached out, looking for club members, and I joined without hesitation. Little did I know that joining this club would open my eyes to a completely different side of MHS.

I remember my first club meeting where a group of my friends and I met our Super Friend Alexander. Alex was quick to give us the tour of the classroom and point out all his favorite things, including his chair and his calendar. After that, we sat in a circle and shared stories of our past week. When it was Alex’s turn to share, he immediately brought up listening to music on his computer. Before we knew it, listening to music with Alexander was something we looked forward to every month. We would dance and sing to Taylor Swift, Demi Lovato, and Katy Perry. However, there was nothing Alex liked more than listening to Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. We spent many Fridays figuring out our favorite songs. This was a tradition that was definitely missed over the summer.

As I am now beginning my junior year, I am so excited to be a member of Super Friends again. I encourage any Memorial student to take a look at Super Friends and become a member of this wonderful organization.

Want to be a Buzz Kid? Email approximately 350 words, a high-resolution photo and caption to [email protected]. Or mail it to The Buzz Magazines, 5001 Bissonnet, Suite 100, Bellaire, Texas 77401.