In September 2014, Gwen Gabert and some friends came to Juliana Martin and asked if they could take Martin’s self-contained special education class to the Homecoming dance.

In just two years, that gesture has evolved into a 60-plus member “BFF Club,” a club designed to promote inclusion among the special education and general education students at Federal Way High School. Gabert and Martin aren’t satisfied, though, and they want to see their message of compassion and friendship spread like wildfire to other schools.

“I think you want every child to grow up feeling liked, loved, having friends, being included,” Martin said. “The earlier you can start that, the easier it will be. Our goal would be, by the time you get to high school that it’s no big deal there’s a BFF Club because you’ve always been friends with someone that’s different than you.”

Martin and Gabert each had life-changing experiences, or circumstances, that separately led them to their vision and the creation of BFF Club.

For Martin, meeting with Devin from the special education department as a senior at Kentridge High School was about getting Starbucks once a week — until it wasn’t. Martin and Devin became fast friends, enjoying every Friday after school with one another. The duo’s friendship paved the way to Martin’s calling in life working as a Functional Core Teacher — but Devin was the real teacher, teaching Martin about unconditional love.

Gabert found the meaning of unconditional love through her brother Joe, who’s affected by a mitochondrial disease that delays his development and makes it so he’s unable to swallow, speak or move voluntarily. But the infectious smile on his face on a daily basis suggests he’s no different from anyone else, and Gabert looks to him for sunshine in her life.

The desire to take Martin’s class to homecoming came from Gabert wondering where Joe would fit into the fabric of high school life and a desire to make sure he was just as included as she was.

“I realized when Joe gets to high school he’s not going to get to go to homecoming. It made me want to take [all] the special education students because they don’t get to go to homecoming,” Gabert said. “Joe doesn’t get to play soccer or do things every other student can do to make more friendships, so BFF Club gives him and all the other special education students a chance to make more friends like every other student in high school.”

After the dance, Gabert and her friends were repeated guests in Martin’s class any chance they could get, and the idea to become more was born. Two months after that, they were a club armed with the support of students, faculty and administration. In the two years since, the club has put on dances, played Just Dance, held pizza parties and a carnival. A video created by the club highlighting the joy of BFF Club and all its members was shown at an assembly this past school year, and according to Martin, there was raucous applause accompanied by nary a dry eye in the house.

As the club has moved along — creating Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages to consistently spread the word and promote friendship — it has presented what Gabert calls a “teaching moment” for people who might not be comfortable around people with disabilities. Martin has seen perspectives shift, stereotypes shattered and the “R-word” used less, which is especially important for students to be taught at a young age. It’s how allies are made and barriers are broken down.

“It’s really important for their peers to know they’re high school students too, they’re people too; they have the same hopes and dreams as everyone else,” Martin said. “Somebody’s disability does not define them.”

Martin has seen her students’ social skills develop through the club and their ability to respond well to peer-to-peer connection, saying her students treat everyone they meet like rockstars. She highlights one instance where a girl in her class was often reluctant to speak, but then BFF Club came around and she began talking everyone’s ear off about some of her favorite things. She even made it into the video shown at the assembly — something Martin never thought would happen.

To Martin and Gabert, that’s where the magic of BFF Club lies — everyone gets something positive out of opportunities to promote and create long-lasting friendships. The love shown in the club’s motives all come back to one powerful, simple ideal: inclusion. Or, as Martin puts it, “Can you imagine not having friends?”

The duo hope the impact Federal Way High School’s BFF Club has made will encourage other schools — elementary to college — to embark on a similar path of creating inclusive schools. Martin and Gabert are willing and able to help any school interested as they hope word-of-mouth and BFF Club’s social media presence reaches as many people as they can. Or, in Gabert’s words, “We want to expand to the world.”

That may be a lofty goal, but Gabert has already made connections at Todd Beamer, Decatur and Thomas Jefferson high schools, and she has no plans of stopping her pursuit of increasing awareness to the fact that what makes people different is what makes them great. Gabert gets tripped up on her words as her mouth attempts to keep up with the passion fueling her thoughts, something doubtlessly based on the impact the students of Martin’s class had on her last two years of high school and the person her little brother helped mold her into.

“I just want to make the world a better place and a better place for Joe,” Gabert said. “BFF Club is one of the many things that is such a positive thing to have [in his life].”

Or, as the header of the club’s Facebook page writes, “Everyone needs a BFF.”

Martin, Gabert and others affiliated with BFF Club are happy to help start similar organizations. They can be reached at officialbffclub@gmail.com.