Casa Grande program welcomes students of all abilities

Tosh Scutt beamed as he tapped a set of drums before clashing the cymbals, adeptly composing a spirited soundtrack as students from Casa Grande High School and Cypress Primary School danced together Wednesday afternoon.

Scutt, 14, loves to make music – a passion the autistic teen ardently shares with his newfound friends at Casa Grande. He’s among a group of eight Cypress students with autism and similar disabilities who travel to the Petaluma high school every other week to participate in a “Lunch Buddies” program spearheaded by a team of Casa Grande seniors.

“The whole point is to destigmatize mental health by talking about it,” said Marina Eggleston, 17, who launched the project in an attempt to break down barriers between students at Casa Grande and Cypress, which serves a special needs population. “A lot of teens are very nervous or they laugh, but I don’t think they’re trying to be mean. People don’t know what to do or how to act. It’s been a really eye-opening experience. All the kids that do that have made friends with Cypress kids.”

Inspiration for the project stemmed from a field trip to the Cypress campus with teacher Lynne Moquete, Eggleston said. Working with a group of fellow seniors and staff from both schools, Eggleston built the program to facilitate integration and inclusiveness, while also fulfilling requirements for her senior projects.

Since the first meeting in October, when a handful of Cypress students met a small group of Casa Grande students to exchange names, play board games and chat, Eggleston said the program has blossomed. Now, nearly a dozen Casa students attend the lunchtime meetings, with a core group of students working to organize activities for the gatherings.

“The Cypress students … don’t get a lot of interaction time with kids close to their own age,” Eggleston said. “It’s really cool because they’re making normal relationships with us. And it’s really doing the same thing for both of us – we’re benefiting from getting to know them and making relationships with people who are different than us.”

Moquete, a longtime Casa Grande teacher who now plays an advisory role for the group, applauded the teens’ efforts to interact with students she called “differently-abled,” or “diff-abled.”

“They’ve really worked so hard at being inclusive and that can be really hard,” she said. “Some of the Cypress kids are nonverbal, and they really had to conceptualize differently to include them … it’s amazing to watch them do that. They really had to think outside the box, thinking of games and things they can do so everyone is included.”

Special education intern teacher Denise West, who brings her class of 12 to 15-year-old students to the campus, said students quickly overcome initial apprehensions about the program, and now often inquire about their next opportunity to see their friends at Casa Grande.

“I can remember what high school was like, but stepping on campus, I couldn’t believe how friendly everyone was,” she said. “Even kids who weren’t involved in Lunch Buddies were saying hello to our kids and giving them high-fives. There was one student in particular who was apprehensive about going in and he would stand outside in the halls. A couple of boys volunteered to go talk to him … I couldn’t believe how accepting everyone was.”

Cypress’ Director Laura Briggan said her students visit Casa Grande for field trips, but the program adds another layer of interaction.

“There’s an equal benefit to both students and that’s the most amazing thing,” she said. “For the ‘normal kids,’ they get the benefit of learning that there’s an array of differences - people have strengths and weaknesses, all of us do. To accept that in yourself is easier to do if you can accept it in others. For our students, they’re in a school with other kids with disabilities, and to have them integrated with normal kids, they can learn social skills and just have fun.”

For Rose Dagnino, who helped start the program, working with a special needs population helped her identity a future career path.

“It definitely showed me that I like working with people who have disabilities. I feel good working with other people, and it showed me that I really want to keep serving the community and helping other people and building relationships with different types of people,” said Dagnino, 17.

The seniors hope to extend the program’s reach beyond their May graduation date, growing the effort to reach other classes at their campus and Cypress School. Casa Grande students currently pay for events and supplies out of pocket, though Eggleston has launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for program supplies for next year and is working with her peers to pass the baton for the program.

“This has been super rewarding, because I’ve never done something like this … I’ve never put my heart this much into something. Doing this opened my eyes to the fact that you can do anything,” she said. To donate, visit gofundme.com/mgm5x-lunch-buddies.