Sonoma County high schools team up to host Best Buddies prom for students with special needs

For years, area schools with Best Buddies programs have teamed up to put on massive sporting events — soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter and track and field in the spring.

Hundreds of kids in special education classes and programs from across Sonoma County turn up and compete, celebrate and sweat.

Now student leaders from those same Best Buddies clubs are joining forces to host not an athletic event, but a dance.

“At Analy we did a Homecoming this year, and all of the kids really enjoyed it,” said Cassidy Avila, president of the Best Buddies club at Analy High School. “I thought it would be cool if all the Best Buddies programs in Sonoma County could get together and do (Prom) so we could … get to know more people, so our program at Analy reached out to some other schools.”

Maci Jackson, president of the Best Buddies club at Montgomery High got Avila’s email.

“She said they were thinking of starting to plan for a Best Buddies prom and ‘What do you think of that? Do you think people would come?’” she said. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh yes. I’m 100% down.’”

And so it is.

A countywide Best Buddies prom, open to special education students ages 14-22 from across Sonoma County, will be held at Epicenter from 5 to 8 p.m. on April 6.

Tickets are $10 but scholarships, which will make admission free, are available.

“Most of us went to our prom, it’s a huge rite of passage, it’s something really special when you are in high school,” said Montgomery special education teacher Margaret Buhn. “Some of these kids don’t get to participate in dances. It’s an opportunity to go and feel special and get dressed up and get that typical teenage experience that is so important.”

Best Buddies is an international program that works on local campuses to promote activities, events and field trips with students in special education classes and those in general education classes.

But as far as most folks can tell, that hasn’t included a Best Buddies-backed communitywide dance.

That, for years, was Cindy Cahill’s baby.

In 2014, Cahill’s daughter Victoria produced a prom for special needs young adults and adults as her senior project at Windsor High School in honor of her brother, Justin, who has severe autism.

That event, which featured a full meal and dessert, gift bags, flowers, access to formal outfits, professional photos — all at top shelf locations, ran until last May.

Cindy Cahill, who took up the rather hefty mantle of organization and production duties when her daughter went off to college, had led the charge for years.

She established the Justin Cahill Special Needs Prom as a 501(c) 3 nonprofit group and developed a long list of supporters.

The annual event pulled in hundreds of revelers from near and far to have the night of their lives.

Still, putting it on year after year became an increasingly heavy lift.

So this year Cahill stepped away.

“It was such a great event and everyone so loved it. It was amazing,” she said. “It gives a lot of joy, it’s just too much for me now.”

So by a stroke of luck, good fortune or a sprinkle of serendipity, this happens to be the year that Best Buddies student leaders decided to host a countywide prom.

The upcoming prom will be a little different from the Cahill-led extravaganza, but the spirit is remarkably similar.

“I think that prom is always super fun because you get all dressed up and you feel pretty or handsome or whatever. You feel special,” Avila said. “I think it’s one of those events that people look forward to in high school. I think it’s a night for them to feel special and feel beautiful and all that kind of stuff.”

And all that kind of stuff takes funding.

The clubs from Analy, Petaluma, Elsie Allen, Montgomery and Santa Rosa high schools have been raising funds.

The Santa Rosa High School Foundation just contributed $2,500, Buhn said.

Epicenter has been “awesome” in cutting the group deals and accommodating needs, Avila said.

To that end, there will be a dance floor, but also a quiet room. The trampoline area and arcade are part of the evening. There will also be a photo booth.

And, of course, a DJ.

But pulling in enough money to pull off this first-time-for-them event has been a bit of a hill to climb for Best Buddies student leaders.

They are accepting donations.

Contributions can be made directly to the Best Buddies dance via the Montgomery High School online student store.

“I have seen what it’s like for the Buddies to be included in things like sports at the Special Olympics, so I know that having this prom would be such a good experience,” said Gavi Geffner, president of the Santa Rosa High Best Buddies club.

If the Special Olympics events are any indication, the dance could draw hundreds of revelers, organizers said.

And that is the key, Jackson said. The more the merrier.

“We just really want for all the Best Buddies programs to come together and have a blast, have a great night,” she said. “I am beyond excited. I cannot wait for the prom.”

You can reach Staff Columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com. On Instagram @kerry.benefield.