UC High’s Circle of Friends Club, a school inclusion program which establishes friendships between students of differing abilities, hosted their annual districtwide dance on Friday, March 22, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.

    Many students in the San Diego Unified School District were eligible to attend this year’s Circle of Friends Dance. Club Advisor Speech Language Pathologist Julie Hicks said, “The Circle of Friends club, along with ASB, is hosting the dance for students in all of the Circle of Friends clubs at all of the high schools in the district. Last year we had students from 11 different schools attend. It was super fun. I’m really looking forward to the event this year.”

   According to Special Education Teacher Jessica Barajas, this year’s dance theme was superheroes, and the club voted to choose this theme. Barajas said, “The dance will be freeform — all students are encouraged to express themselves on the dancefloor. We plan to have a photobooth and a meal for students and staff as well.”

   Circle of Friends Co-President Senior Allison Turley has been in the club since her freshman year. According to Turley, “The dance is important so we can have some fun as a club and meet new people. It’s great for everyone involved and the kids have a blast dancing to the music and playing with balloons. It’s also a great way to connect with people from other schools since other dances are limited to UC High students and their dates.”

    Senior Gabriel Bason is in his first year of Circle of Friends, and believes the ambiance is always lively, friendly, and welcoming. According to Bason, “The dance is important because it allows all of us to have fun and be together to dance, eat snacks and have everyone be included.”

   Barajas said, “The first ever Circle of Friends chapter was started by Barbara Palilis in 1999 at Santa Monica High School. UC High’s club was started by our speech language pathologist, Julie Hicks, in 2009.” Meetings are located in room 20l on Fridays during lunch.

   Bason added, “I helped pick out some of the activities that we are going to do during the dance and what the theme will be in the club. I’m just a member, but that doesn’t stop us from helping organize events, because everyone has a say and an opinion or a suggestion to what we can do.” Bason said, “It helps you create new connections and experience new things.”

   According to Hicks, “Allison Turley, [Senior] Sevilla Tovar and [Senior] Nour Sinjab have had a big impact in keeping our club alive over the last four years and organizing the dances that we’ve hosted over the last two years. I am grateful for their leadership. These students are seniors so we are definitely looking for students to pick up the reins and join our club in the future so that we can continue our inclusion mission and continue to host activities as well as participate in activities at other schools and outside of school.”

   “We socialize during our weekly meetings by playing games, listening to music, and eating lunch together—we’ve gone on a few field trips together this year as well. We attended a Dance at San Diego High School and we also went to the zoo earlier this year. I think everyone involved had a great time,” said Hicks.

“We all work as a team and enjoy each other’s company. The whole point of the club is inclusion, and each member brings an open mind and a friendly greeting for students of all ability levels, making the environment very positive and fun,” said Hicks.

   Turley said, “In room 201, we play games and eat some yummy food. Come say hi.”