PALS forever
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 years, 5 months AGO
From left: Erick Ocampo, Danny Thurman, Adam "Nick" Burns (partially hidden) and R.J. Melendrez enjoy music and dancing at the PALS Club prom Friday.
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Yasmin Luna Chavez, left, and a fellow PALS Club member take a selfie at the PALS Prom Friday, flanked by Bryan Luna Chavez, left, and Ethan Farmer.
Gunner Hendricks, left, and Josline Dominguez Gomez were named the PALS Prom king and queen Friday.
PALS Club members Lydemai Diaz, left, and Juanpablo Godinez cover door duty at the PALS Prom Friday evening.
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | March 27, 2024 1:35 AM
MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake High School PALS Prom Friday night brought glamor, joy and some impressive dance moves to the school commons.
“This was probably one of the best proms yet for attendance and community support,” said Jodi Truman, the PALS Club advisor.
Truman is also one of the teachers in the Project Future program, which is what used to be called Life Skills. The PALS Club — PALS stands for “Peer Assistance Leadership Service” — brings together students with and without developmental disabilities at MLHS, according to its official description. The purpose is to enable students with disabilities to find understanding and camaraderie and students without disabilities to learn more about people who are different from them. The special education teachers at MLHS started the club about 12 years ago, Truman said, and the prom has been happening for at least seven.
Attendance at the prom was anywhere from 60 to 75 PALS members, she said, as well as some parents and other students who came to see what was happening. A DJ paid for by parents John and Denise Moncada spun tunes while students busted moves inside, and local real estate agent Blake Rollins arranged for a corn dog truck to keep up hard-dancing teenagers’ strength. The other costs of the prom were paid for with funds the club raises with enterprises like running the school’s snack shack and vending machines, Truman said.
Outside the prom, Jennifer Milne was taking a photo of her son James Smith, who was clearly eager to get inside and dance. He’s benefited a lot from his experience with the PALS club, she said.
“He has an intellectual delay and it really helps him to form connections with his peers,” Milne said. “He really struggles at that. It helps him get out in the community and do things that he would normally have a harder time doing.”
The door was staffed by PALS Club members Juanpablo Godinez and Lydemai Diaz, who said they enjoy the interaction they get with their classmates with disabilities.
“We’re peer mentors, so we have a class with them,” Godinez said. “We have a class where we help them out in their classrooms, or we help them out with their PE and stuff.”
The prom isn’t the only thing the PALS Club does, Truman said. There’s also a trip to a pumpkin patch in the fall, a Christmas bowling party and a taco party where they bring in a food truck for lunch and play yard games.
“This year we’re gonna do Cascade Park so they can roll down the grass hill. That was a big request,” Truman said. “The beauty about the PALS Club is … that they are able to connect to that fun and that pure joy that oftentimes we forget about when we get really busy in this life. And that's one of the blessings I love about PALS.”
Joel Martin may be reached via email at [email protected].
Yasmin Luna Chavez, left, and a fellow PALS Club member take a selfie at the PALS Prom Friday, flanked by Bryan Luna Chavez, left, and Ethan Farmer.
Gunner Hendricks, left, and Josline Dominguez Gomez were named the PALS Prom king and queen Friday.
PALS Club members Lydemai Diaz, left, and Juanpablo Godinez cover door duty at the PALS Prom Friday evening.ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Quincy National Night Out scales down
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Quincy Police retirements leave big shoes to fill
QUINCY — There are some big shoes to fill at the Quincy Police Department. “We’re losing 48 years of experience between them,” Quincy Police Chief Ryan Green said at the retirement party for Capt. Jorge Trujillo and Det. Damon Powell Thursday. Trujillo, who grew up in Sunnyside, has been with QPD for 19 years, he said, coming on as a patrol officer fresh out of the military. From there he served as a field training officer, a detective and finally captain. “I consider him my left-hand man,” Green said. “He runs the operations side of the house … He knows the agency very well, and he knows the community.” Trujillo has some projects around the house to tackle now that he’s retired, he said.
Big fun on a small scale
Wheat Land Communities’ Fair opens Thursday
RITZVILLE — The Wheat Land Communities’ Fair isn’t as big or as flashy as some of the county fairs around central Washington, but the folks who keep it going like it just the way it is. “It’s somewhere you can go and get an old-time traditional feeling, and you’re comfortable letting your kids roam the grounds and experience all that it has to offer,” said Board Member Lori Williams. “It’s more of a feeling than (one) specific thing,” The fair starts Thursday in Ritzville and runs through Sunday. Starting Friday, the 56th Ritzville Rodeo will take place alongside the fair at the rodeo grounds. This year the entertainment budget was expanded, Williams said, to be able to offer more fun that’s covered by the cost of admission. For the kids, there’s face painting, balloon art, Lego crafts, races, contests and games. Children can also ride on a little train towed around the fairgrounds behind a tractor.