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   Forget lifting weights. For great exercise, try keeping up with the Pom Squad.
To get the full experience, I tried pom for a day. As I walked into practice, the squad quickly welcomed me and continued with their routines.
Previously involved in dance, I thought bringing back my groove would be easy. I was embarrassingly wrong.
Luckily, sophomore Katie Lomshek precisely knew the choreography. I knew because my eyes were glued to her every step.
Although I was studying her moves and attempting to engrave them into my thoughts, it seemed to make no difference. My reflexes were shot. All my steps were at least three seconds too late and dull to the max. To some, my movements gave the impression of a lack of effort, but panting and dripping beads of sweat on my forehead proved otherwise.
Along with the inconsistent steps, my body chose to be as flexible as a wooden pencil. The girls on the team hit every move sharply and their kicks appeared to be dead-on. Mimicking Lomshek, I began kicking my legs up in hopes of perfection but unsuccessfully danced with ants in my pants.
If I honestly wanted to contribute in practice with pom, I would have to step up my game. Hours of training is put into this competitive sport, and the squad works with determination, compassion and dedication.
Most of our student body doesn’t understand how much effort these girls put into their sport.
“It’s the time commitment,” pom coach Marja Edwardson said. “People don’t realize how much it takes to be good at dance.”
The girls practice everyday during their seventh hour; Tuesdays after school until 5 p.m. and then, that same day, from 6:30-8:30 with the band. After school on Wednesdays, they practice until 4:30. On average, pom trains for about nine hours during the week.
With all of that practice, these ladies pump up LHS students at our football and basketball games when they perform. Their great enthusiasm definitely boosts my spirit and support for our team.

But what about the students who walk the hallways without a single hello? To special education teacher Jake Thibodeau, these students mean the world. These are the students he helps through every day, goes to movies with on the weekends and loves with all his heart.

“I always say I can’t believe I get paid to do what I do because I get to hang out and have fun with some of the most extraordinary kids in the world,” Thibodeau said.

Thibodeau teaches in the autism program at Lawrence High. Students enter the program when they first start school and stay with it throughout their education.

Thibodeau’s job helps students get through obstacles in life. As a great metaphor for his job, Thibodeau breaks barriers every day – but not in a common form.

When Thibodeau was 11, he started taking Tae Kwon Do lessons to release anxiety he had as a young child. He now teaches martial arts students how to overcome challenges, such as breaking boards or cement blocks.

At school, he teaches students to take down their challenges, whether they are academic, vocational, social or emotional.

“I’m working with them to help them be successful in all areas of life, and I’m trying to get them to be as independent as possible,” Thibodeau said.

Every student is different, so Thibodeau works to make a program that is perfect for each one. His goal everyday is to help students be successful. When he sees his students in five years – out of high school and experiencing life in the real world — he hopes they will be fulfilling their potential.

“Sometimes it’s so overwhelming because I would be devastated if I see them in a few years and they’ve regressed a lot or they’re not in a job that stimulates them and they’re not in an environment that pushes them mentally and physically,” Thibodeau said.

Part of Thibodeau’s desire for success comes from his past. He wishes he’d embraced a different outlook as an LHS student. For Thibodeau, school wasn’t a big deal. Without the expectation of college laid out for him, he didn’t see the need to go.

After high school, he took after his father and earned certificates for firefighting.

But Thibodeau was never certain that was the right path for him. If it weren’t for a special student, Thibodeau might have stayed where he was. While working toward his firefighting certificates, Thibodeau was a personal paraprofessional for a student at Free State High School. During their years together, Thibodeau and this student became close friends and would talk about life. One of those talks happened to be about Thibodeau’s future.

“I was thinking about fire fighting, and he just told me flat out, ‘Jake, you need to be a teacher,’ and when he told me that, it just really changed my perspective,” Thibodeau said. “It was his upbeat attitude and the way he tackled life [that made me believe I could do it].”

Today, this experience is still the core of what keeps Thibodeau strong.

“He’s always going to motivate me when times are tough,” Thibodeau said.

For his students to thrive, Thibodeau knows it will take more than the small team in the Autism Program. It will take

everyone at LHS.

That is one of the reasons Thibodeau became a Link Coordinator, in addition to wanting to do something positive for the school that he didn’t do when he was a student. While making connections with Link leaders, Thibodeau hoped to create opportunities for students with autism and expose the Autism Program.

“If I’ve made a connection with some of the Link leaders, when they see me in the hallways, when they see me with my kids, they’ll say hi to me, they’ll say hi to my kids,” Thibodeau said.

And really, he said, that’s what his students want — a simple “Hey” or “How was your weekend.” For Thibodeau, it’s all about compassion.

“I know they have busy days but maybe think outside of themselves a little, say hi to kids with special needs and really appreciate what they have been given in life,” he said. “Know that other people are less fortunate and then make a concerted effort to really give back and help people that are less fortunate.”

Thibodeau also hopes this will carry through to the future.

“Maybe they’ll think back to this high school experience and [think] ‘you know there’s these kids that I saw, and I would really like them to have a good future so I’m gonna vote or I’m gonna put my money toward some of these programs,’” Thibodeau said.

All it takes, he said, is just one tiny gesture.

Outside of the Budget, Samantha writes Double Take, an advice column printed in the Lawrence Journal-World.  Samantha loves to sing in harmony and talk to junior high kids through peer education panels. In the halls, you can often find her humming a Beatles song while wearing a color-coordinated outfit and tripping over her own feet. Some day Samantha would like to write for a teen or women’s issues magazine.

Contact her at samanthaschwartz@sunflower.com.