Organization builds community between volunteers and special education students

The sounds of a piano thundered across the halls of Valley Church in Sunnyvale as the Academy of Music and Arts for Special Education (AMASE) launched its new production of “Noah’s Ark.” A lightning bolt made out of tinfoil bounced across the stage as the marble platform trembled with noise.

Groups of AMASE students huddled in the middle of the stage, singing as each pair stepped into a ship made of cardboard and tempera paint. Each wore a felt animal mask.

The Aug. 1 concert was part of the organization’s “Gift from Above” concert series, which provide special education students a way to showcase their talents and perform in front of their peers.

“It’s a really fun experience. Students seem to look forward to it because they can play in front of parents and friends,” sophomore volunteer Jaime An said. “Concerts help them stay focused in class because they know they’re going to play in front of people.”

The church’s AMASE group was founded to teach art and music to special education students, and has since grown into a community where students and volunteers alike can pursue their artistic interests. High school volunteers are each assigned to one special needs student, or “buddy,” to teach and talk to for the rest of the year.  

“I think this program is so important because it allows high school students to really connect with other people,” junior volunteer Rachel Won said. “We often forget that not everyone is as fortunate as us, and working with these kids is a very humbling experience.”

Won said her perspective on special education students has changed dramatically since her first day in the program. She believes that what AMASE promotes “is not a mentor-student relationship, but rather a relationship more accurately described as friends,” and helps enforce the idea that just because someone “functions differently shouldn’t bar you from becoming friends.”

“Personally, I've built a super good relationship with one of my students,” Won said. “We message each other on Facebook during the week to see how the other is doing. This, to me, is extremely gratifying.”

On Mondays and Thursdays, Won and her fellow volunteers meet at  5:30 p.m. to discuss how they can teach their students more efficiently. Buddies arrive at about 5:50 p.m., and meet with their volunteers to talk before class starts at 7 p.m.

“I love the community and atmosphere. The volunteers have good relationships with one another,” An said. “It’s a place where teachers, students and buddies all work very well together.”

Looking back at her first day as a volunteer, An remembered being extremely excited to meet her new buddy. It was hard to get to know him at first, she said— being autistic, he “wasn’t very talkative nor expressive.” Now in her second year of volunteering, An feels as if she “understands his body language more, which helps [her] respond better to him.”

AMASE taught her how to improve her communication skills, she said, and getting to know the students proved to be the highlight of her day.

“It’s great to see the AMASE students be proud that they are a part of AMASE,” An said. “Being at AMASE and talking with the students really makes me happy.”