Special needs teens cut a rug at Naz prom

As far as Riverside resident Erin Briars is concerned, it’s one of the highlight events of her school year.

A senior, the Nazareth Academy cross country and track runner is in her final weeks of her high school career, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t all in on the school’s Friends in Service and Hospitality, or FISH, prom for students with disabilities, held Saturday evening.

The event, held every other year, drew roughly 40 guests and about 100 Nazareth student volunteers, including Briars. Each guest was paired with a student volunteer, called a buddy.

“It’s just as exciting for the students who are coming as it is for us,” Briars said. “We are so excited to come and dance with them. We call our buddies’ parents before the event happens and they just are glowing about how excited their child is to come.”

By all accounts, the kids had a blast, and not only cutting a rug on the dance floor in the Nazareth cafeteria in front of a DJ. There were games like a giant Connect 4 and beanbag tic-tac-toe as well, and plenty of snacks.

The event has been held seven times since 2012, with a break due to the COVID pandemic, which prompted the every-other-year format. 

FISH is a Nazareth service-centric, hospitality-based club that’s been a part of the school for decades. It allows Roadrunner students to work with populations they might not normally interact with, according to Anthony Gonzalez, Briars’ coach, who sported a green sweater and tie Saturday. 

“Offering something that our students were looking for was a really cool piece,” he said. “Once he put that idea on the table, there were so many Nazareth students who wanted to become involved with it. This year, we literally had to tell students we couldn’t take any more volunteers.”

The theme was green, due to the upcoming St. Paddy’s holiday. There was even a green carpet rolled out for guests from the parking lot into the school.

Guests came from all over, primarily the Lyons Township High School special education community, Briars said. They came dressed for success, with one guest decked out in a Batman logo tuxedo. Another guest had white boots that had lights that flared when she walked.

The idea for the FISH prom was born in 2012, when Nick Cozzi, a student with a brother with Down syndrome, wanted to find a way to connect Nazareth with a community that it wasn’t as connected with, Gonzalez said. 

Nazareth principal Therese Hawkins, also dressed in green, said what she sees at FISH prom is inspiring, from the standpoint of happy facial expressions and the joy on guests’ faces.

“There are some who this is their second time coming to our prom, so they kind of know the lay of the land, they know there is dancing and snacks and all kinds of fun things,” Hawkins said. “For those who are new, some of them are a little shy at first, but they meet our students and very quickly become very comfortable.”

She added: “For me, watching the look in parents’ eyes, that’s really the thing that stays with me long after this night. They are so proud of their kids. They are so happy the kids have an opportunity to have an evening like this.”

Vicki van Alphen is one of those parents. She’s a Nazareth alumni with two boys. Her older son Jack has Down syndrome and is a junior at Lyons Township and attended Saturday for the second time. Her younger son Charlie is a Nazareth sophomore and was volunteering for his first prom as a guest buddy.

“It’s amazing,” she said. “Knowing that the goal for people with disabilities to be equally valued in their communities, an event like this is so special for Nazareth, which is an amazing place but doesn’t have students with disabilities as a core part of their student population.”