POCATELLO — The illuminated cone of a spotlight drifts across the gym at Pocatello High as the lights began to dim, the song “Thunderstruck” playing over the loudspeaker.
The rising sound of the music stirs the young audience, whipping them into a fervor as they eagerly await the start of the Special Olympics basketball match.
After surging through a banner, players from the two teams scatter across the gym with their arms raised in triumph, leaping around excitedly as the crowd erupted in cheers and applause.
Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad then introduced the two teams for the Thursday event, listing the names of the approximately 25 participants including guest-star cheerleaders.
As a referee blew the whistle to begin the match, the players moved across the gym, exchanging impressive displays of athleticism as they banked shots into the net. With every basket made, the supportive students at Pocatello High exploded in further celebration and revelry.
The spring sports assembly is known as Fans in the Stands and invites the entire student body of Pocatello High to participate along with parents and members of the community. The event recognizes the efforts of the school's robotics teams and honors the special education students with a basketball match. The event was emceed by local DJ Adrian Smart and included all the trappings of a premier sporting event.
Holly Lacey, one of the vice principals at Pocatello High, is appreciative of the Special Olympics basketball match and its inclusive nature.
“About two weeks ago, we took all our special programs kids to ISU and we had a field day with their athletes," Lacey said. "They got to participate in that with some of our Pocatello High School students and our special program students. This is our first basketball game and we really want there to be a feeling of inclusion here at Pocatello High School, where every student is recognized for something. Our motto here is where everybody is somebody.”
Members of Pocatello High School's boys and girls basketball teams helped assist the special program students by helping ensure that every kid had an opportunity to handle the ball and to try to make plays.
“We picked some of our really, really great role models to help with that.” Lacey said.
Lacey is appreciative of the community and their involvement in support through programs like Sources of Strength, which many local residents have helped assist through fundraising efforts. Introduced to Pocatello High this year, the program includes 50 peer leaders and adult advisors who inform students about the Sources of Strength wheel.
“(The wheel) has a lot of different sources of strength that we have inside of us, our family, our friends, our community and our education,” Lacey said. “If one part of that wheel falls off, where do we pick up on our wheel until we can mend that part? It's really about pulling all of our sources of strength that we have and then pushing that out to our student body so that they understand all of the strengths that they have inside of them.”
Lacey considers the Special Olympics basketball game a great way for the student body to not only recognize some of their peers but to facilitate greater interpersonal relationships between everyone involved.
“It comes back to inclusion and making sure that every kid here feels like that they have a safe place to be and to come in to learn and to grow and to socialize,” Lacey said. “I think that our special programs kids are so loved in our school, but seeing their faces getting to know them on a different level of seeing their capabilities is so important.”
Lacey continued, “When we went to field day, some of the kids that I took with us are some of our athlete role models. At first, they were very nervous and stood to the side but by the end they were like did you see this student throw? Did you see how good the student could catch? It's just so important that these kids really see every kid in our school as somebody that's special and important and deserves to be celebrated.”
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