Phoenix Friends Builds Connections and Mends Gaps in the Special Education Department

The Phoenix Friends club aims to bridge gaps between the special education department and Rock Ridge students. The club meets up with students with special needs, and plays games, and teaches them new skills to build connections.

Melissa Waas

Members of Phoenix Friends hold up their “floor drawings.” Many of the drawings include doodles of flowers, tic-tac-toe boards, and even happy birthday signs to senior Latifatou Alibi.

Melissa Waas and Aline Gonzalez • December 19, 2023

Every Friday, the Phoenix Friends Club meets up with students from the special education department to play games and do activities, such as making paper airplanes or floor drawings, to brighten up each other’s days. This also serves the purpose to help students with special needs feel more included in the school community. Last year, the club was reintroduced by club president senior Kim Trieu with the hope that this will be just the beginning to get special needs students more involved at Rock Ridge.

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About the Contributors

Melissa Waas, Managing Editor

Melissa Waas, a senior, has been a part of the newspaper staff for three years, and is one of the Managing Editors for the Blaze. She enjoys participating more in the media and video aspect of the Blaze. Even outside of the paper she loves making videos and has favored art and making things visually. Her goals as a journalist this year are to continue contributing to the multimedia department of the Blaze and recruit more students to join. Melissa heavily encourages people to get out of their comfort zone, and try something new in the Blaze, like the multimedia aspects. She really enjoys writing about social issues in our world and finds they can be more challenging than we realize since the facts are not always obvious. She participates in many school extracurriculars: Peer, Wings, and NEHS. Melissa moved from France to the United States in 2020. Her family was looking for an adventure, and chose the U.S. to explore new horizons. She is an extremely creative person, who is always looking for something new to learn.

Aline Gonzalez, Multimedia Editor

Aline Gonzalez is a senior and the Multimedia Editor for The Blaze. This is her fourth year on staff, and her passion for journalism started in third grade after joining her elementary paper. On the staff, she enjoys writing impactful opinion pieces to give a wider perspective on various topics. One of her proudest accomplishments was writing a piece on pronouns and the way schools use them now. Her goal in newspaper this year is to fulfill her editor position by having a video or podcast up every month. In the future, Aline wants to pursue law and criminology, as well as eventually go into journalism. She plans on joining the Mock Trial club at Rock Ridge this year to fuel her passion for law as well as the Hispanic Latinx club to connect with her heritage. Her other hobbies include reading, pet-sitting animals, and staying active by going to the gym.

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Phoenix Friends Builds Connections and Mends Gaps in the Special Education Department

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